What is Hurricane Electric? Let’s Find Out Whilst Learning About Some Computer/Cyber Network Fundamentals!!!

Hurricane Electric (corporate website here) is a global Internet Service Provider (ISP), offering IP transit, colocation, dedicated servers, among other services, based in Fremont, CA, USA and founded in 1994.

Referring to themselves an the “Internet Backbone and Colocation Provider”, Hurricane Electric operates its own global IPv4 and IPv6 network and is considered the largest IPv6 backbone in the world, as measured by the total number of customer networks connected and by the total number of customer prefixes announced.[2]

Hurricane Electric IP Transit Network

Hurricane Electric has connections ranging from multiple 10GigE (10,000 Mbps) to multiple 100GigE (100 Gbps) that form these rings that connect H.E. core routers. [NOTE: Gigabit Ethernet or Gige (1000 Mbps, which equals 1 Gbps), 10 Gigabit Ethernet or 10GE (10 Gbps).]

These guys are real constructive with the adjectives as well. They use the term “self-healing” to describe their network architecture which virtually eliminates a single point of failure.

Hurricane Electric seems very assure of their place in the industry and they defend their position with the following:

Unlike other backbones, we aggressively connect to Internet exchange points and privately interconnect in each local market to local networks to ensure that your data will arrive via the shortest possible routes. On an ongoing basis, we are negotiating with the top fiber carriers for new shorter routes, and we are signing on new customer and peering relationships.
via Hurricane Electric’s website

Hurricane Electric’s network utilizes Border Gateway Protocol Version 4 (BGP4) over dark fiber (fibre) and long haul wavelengths. What is dark fiber? (A dark fibre, or unlit fibre is an unused optical fibre, available for use in fibre-optic communication. Long-haul optics refers to the transmission of visible light signals over optical fiber cable for great distances.)

Their FAQ section of their website has interesting info and answers to questions about IP Transit & Bandwidth, Colocation, Wholesale Private Data Centers, Layer 2 Transport, Dedicated Servers, Web Hosting & Email.

IP Transit, also known as Internet Connectivity, Direct Internet Access, or Bandwidth, gives users high speed access to the global Internet via H.E.’s international Internet Backbone. Worldwide point-to-point Internet access is necessary in today’s online environment and H.E. offers over 130 POPs spread across North America, Europe, and Asia. H.E. currently has over 19000 BGP sessions with over 6000 different networks; all this means fewer hops and lower latency (thing less lag) for customers.

H.E. offers the following speed connections:

100 Base T (100 Mbps)
Gigabit Ethernet or Gige (1000 Mbps, which equals 1 Gbps)
10 Gigabit Ethernet or 10GE (10 Gbps)
100 Gigabit Ethernet or 100GE (100 Gbps)
Additionally, they also bond ports of the same type (Gige, 10GE, or 100GE) together using LACP (link aggregation) to create larger logical pipes.

How do customers connect to H.E.’s backbone? If the customer’s network is within one of the datacenters where H.E. operates a core router, then the customer simply orders a cross connect to H.E. from the facility operator. (I believe this could be a player like Equinix.) Otherwise, the customer can get a circuit, layer 2 transport, or dark fiber to the nearest facility that contains a Hurricane Electric core router from a local loop provider, metro ethernet provider, or fiber network.[2]

Colocation–A colocation data center is a physical facility that offers space with the proper power, cooling and security to host businesses’ computing hardware and servers. H.E.’s blue colocation cabinets are each individually locking cabinets featuring standard 19″ rails (with deep cabinets available for longer servers) and a variety of power and connectivity options. All of H.E.’s cabinet offerings are supplied with conditioned and clean power from multiple PDUs (Power Distribution Units) and UPSs (Uninterruptible Power Supply/Source). Also, H.E. can configure custom electrical power to suit certain equipment requirements, and customers can access their equipment for installations for maintenance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. H.E. even offers roof access for a satellite or microwave antenna in their Fremont facilities. (#BallerStatus)

And H.E. says they are carrier neutral, allowing customers to order just cabinets from them and allowing the customer to use whatever carriers that are within H.E. facilities, or arrange for new carriers to come into their facilities. (They do seem very accommodating.)

Wholesale Private Data Centers–H.E. offers appx. 250,000 square feet of colocation space in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are fully-staffed 24x7x365, and utilize security procedures including keycard entry systems and 24/7 digital CCTV monitoring, they feature redundant HVAC units, back up battery systems, and diesel generators.

Layer 2 Transport services provide a virtual circuit between two locations on H.E.’s global network using ethernet. H.E. currently has over 80 core router Point-Of-Presence (POP) locations in major cities in the North America, Europe and Asia.

This service can be implemented by H.E. customers in some of the following ways:

To build their network, by connecting between two of their own routers in different cities
To connect two of their storage LANs, by connecting between two of their own switches in different facilities.
To connect to an exchange point, by connecting one of their routers to a remote exchange.
To provide service to an enterprise customer or to connect to a provider, by connecting from one of their routers to a remote datacenter on H.E.’s network.

Dedicated Servers–H.E. offers their customers a wide range of dedicated servers that may be either fully managed by H.E., using their own custom flavor of Linux (they fancy!), or a self-managed option for the account owner, with complete root access.

Web Hosting & Email–H.E. offers full web hosting service with POP3/IMAP email, Webmail, Anti-Spam Filters and IPv6 enabled accounts.

(Image #1) Look! The URL is a secure https! Oh, happy day!!!

(Image #2) Click on the “FAQ” in the lower-left Information box!

(VERY INTERESTINGLY, their homepage is secured with https (see Image #1 above), but when I clicked on the link to their FAQ (in Image #2 the “FAQ” hyperlink in the “Information” box on the lower-left), the hyperlink takes the user to an unsecured http version of the site FAQ (see Image #3), even though there still is a secure httpS version of the site FAQ available (see Image #4). Even though most users may just go to the FAQ to find answers, and thus not really need a secure connection like one would for any transactions, it’s still a minor detail that stands out all the more so when it happens to a company that touts such thoroughness and attention to detail. MAJOR SIDE-EYE! Soooo,…someone over there should quickly update that hyperlink. Ya heard!? )