ThoughtWave Technologies has been in the IP networking business since 1994, so if you're looking to build your own robust enterprise network, there's no better place to turn.

One of the most important aspects of building an enterprise network is the architectural concept of multi-homing.  What this means is building your network with two or more upstream internet providers, which is essential in order to assure reliability.

In order to build a multi-homed network, you need to possess something called an ASN, or autonomous system number, which uniquely distinguishes your enterprise network from all others in the global internet.  Think of it as a license to operate the internet.  We like to compare it to electromagnetic spectrum in the mobile communications business – your two or four byte ASN identifies you on the internet and allows your edge routers to speak BGP to your upstream providers, known as peering partners.

In addition, an ASN allows you to request critical IP address sources, both IPv4 (legacy, but in demand still) and IPv6 (new, and much easier to obtain).  IPv4 is the gold standard of internet connectivity.  The registries ran out of new space in 2015, so it's a hot commodity due to the limited numbers.  IPv6 is astronomically abundant, but not universally accepted on legacy hardware and embedded devices.

You can get IP space from one of your upstreams, but then they have you captive as a customer, so we'll help you request your own portable provider-independent address space.  In fact, you won't even be tied to us unless you want to.  You can pay our flat fee and switch providers immediately.

The timeframe generally takes anywhere from one to four months depending on whether you want IPv4 space only, IPv6 space only, or both, and once you have that, you are most of the way to speaking BGP on the internet and using your IP space to multi-home.

Here is our process generally from start to finish:

  • We'll optionally form your S-corporation in the State of your choice
  • We'll create the necessary organization records in ARIN, the American Registry for Internet Numbers.
  • We'll negotiate the necessary upstream provider connections in order to qualify for an ASN.  (We can temporarily be one of your upstreams, and we'll work with our partners to get you the other!). This may or may not incur a small charge from our partner networks.
  • We'll help you with all of the necessary paperwork in order to request IP addresses, both IPv4 and IPv6.  Note: Requesting IPv4 space requires being placed on a waiting list that can take several months.  We can also help you locate and purchase IP address space on the global market, which can greatly simplify the process.  We'll start you out with a /24 (The smallest block of IPv4 addresses you need to be multi-homed) which has 253 usable addresses.
  • We'll create the necessary IRRs (Internet Routing Registry) entries in order to get your IP space usable on the internet.  This is generally free.
  • We'll write the necessary LOAs (Letters of Authorization) in order to get your IP space through the upstream provider filters.
  • We'll announce your IP space as a test and allow you to use our cloud network to validate the configuration on a sample VM.
  • We'll help you find additional connectivity.

Includes the following services:

  • Lifetime assistance with ARIN requests, IRR updates
  • Lifetime assistance with delegating IP address blocks to your downstream customers
  • Lifetime assistance updating your DNS (domain name service) servers for your IP address blocks.

Generally speaking, our fees for this range from $10,000 (payable in stages) on up to $25,000 (if you need a starter block of IPv4 space on the global market), but we do accept partial payment as equity compensation depending on the stage of your operating company and your anticipated revenues.