The trouble with optimizing your Web server location is that the Internet isn’t easy to pin down. It isn’t like you are trying to open up a store on a downtown street or near a freeway exit. The fact that your public can be located anywhere in the world and on any network is just one small part of the challenge. Other issues include hazy definitions for such terms as backbone, peering point, primary providers, and network access points. It would help if these were commonly understood and used by the majority of people you talk to, but they aren’t.

This article was written back in for a great online pub called 8Wire that is sadly no longer with us. Luckily the HTML lives on here.