SDN Internet Router – Part 1

This post introduces the concept of the SDN Internet Router (SIR) project. It provides foundational knowledge on how the internet works, the role of BGP in routing, and different entities involved in connecting the world (transit providers, subscriber networks, content providers, CDNs, IXPs). It highlights Spotify's current strategy of using two transit providers and CDNs, and their recent direct connections to eyeball networks at IXPs. The post then introduces the technical and economic challenges of traditional internet routers (cost, ASIC requirements) and proposes the use of cheaper, faster switches by leveraging SDN principles to selectively download BGP prefixes, reducing the need to hold the entire routing table. This post sets the stage for subsequent posts detailing the implementation.