Packet Clearing House

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Packet Clearing House or PCH is a non-profit research institute formed in 1994. It supports operations and analysis in the areas of Internet traffic exchange, routing economics, and global network development.

[edit] Overview

Packet Clearing House was originally formed in 1994 to provide efficient regional and local network interconnection alternatives for the west coast of the United States. It has since grown to become a leading proponent of neutral independent network interconnection and provider of route-servers at major exchange points worldwide. PCH provides equipment, training, data, and operational support to organizations and individual researchers seeking to improve the quality, robustness, and accessibility of the Internet.

As of 2008, current and ongoing PCH projects include the construction of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) throughout the developing world; operation of the INOC-DBA global Internet infrastructure protection hotline; support for globally distributed domain name system (DNS) resources; implementation of network research data collection initiatives in more than three dozen countries; and the development and presentation of educational materials to foster a better understanding of Internet architectural principles and their policy implications among policy makers, technologists, and the general public. PCH sponsors include the Soros Open Society Institute, which funded PCH in the development of open-source software tools which assist Internet service providers (ISPs) in optimizing the routing of their traffic, reducing the cost and increasing the performance of Internet service as delivered to the public.

According to its web site, PCH maintains offices in San Francisco, Berkeley, London, and Kathmandu.