Internet resilience in Ashburn, Virginia

Abstract

Internet infrastructure is highly distributed among different private and public sector entities. Although networks using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) are highly resistant to failures — especially when multiple paths from sender to receiver exist - they have the potential to fail if a concentration of high-capacity routes between a particular sender and receiver become unavailable. The geographic locality of such a large quantity of data centers and network routes in the Ashburn, Virginia, area makes this concentration a concern. Internet access is increasingly becoming a dependency for critical infrastructure services. The New York Times recently published an article on the vulnerabilities and importance of the physical infrastructure that the Internet comprises. [1] As critical infrastructure owner/operators, government agencies, and the public are becoming more aware of its physical vulnerabilities, the necessity of studying and improving the resilience of Internet infrastructure to physical threats and vulnerabilities is growing.