How One ISP Kept Transit Costs Flat While Traffic Grew 7x (MetroNet + Kentik)
"We pay less in transit IP costs today than we did when we turned up Kentik. Our cost per Mbps is lowered over the years — and our traffic is seven times what it was when we started." — Michael Leclaire, MetroNet
How does an ISP keep transit costs flat while traffic grows 7x? In this customer story, Michael Leclaire, Director of Network Planning and Architecture at MetroNet, explains how MetroNet uses Kentik and NetFlow data to identify peering partners, reduce reliance on IP transit, and handle Over-The-Top (OTT) video surges — all while expanding into new data centers and absorbing more traffic. The result: lower cost per Mbps even as the network scales.
What MetroNet uses Kentik for:
- NetFlow analytics to identify which providers to peer with directly vs. route through paid transit
- Sculpting traffic and planning cache cluster placement (including video replication for live streams)
- Working with upstream providers using shared, provable data — Kentik shows MetroNet's side of the story, not just the provider's
- Acquisition integration: SNMP walks via Kentik NMS cloud agents to map newly acquired networks before full integration
- Onboarding new engineers — Kentik is the first tool they get on
- Kentik AI Advisor for reporting that explains its reasoning step by step
Learn more about Kentik for Service Providers: https://www.kentik.com/product/service-provider/
Learn more about Kentik for Peering and Interconnection: https://www.kentik.com/product/peering-and-interconnection/
─── RELATED RESOURCES ───
📊 Hear more from MetroNet and other service providers:
- "Not Having Kentik Is Unacceptable": 5 Service Providers on Kentik: https://youtu.be/6lrXB5CJiGs
- 3 Service Providers on Kentik AI Advisor: Faster Answers, Faster Fixes: https://youtu.be/Y-cWHdIBE9g
- How Conway Corporation Reduced Tool Sprawl with Kentik: https://youtu.be/hqj0kFRDge4
- Midco's Peering Playbook: Using Kentik to Find the Right Content Partners Fast: https://youtu.be/9WiXHs_h5w0
- How Imperva Gets Traffic Answers in Seconds with Kentik: https://youtu.be/ZfYlncWH6_s
- How Race Communications Automates DDoS Mitigation with Kentik: https://youtu.be/E11jtyrtFLs
📊 Related Kentik content on transit cost optimization:
- How to Find and Reduce Network Traffic Costs: https://youtu.be/zxaO5vihQd8
- What Is Network Intelligence? (with NetMavens and Seaborn Networks): https://youtu.be/kkw0fl6KloU
🔗 Learn more on kentik.com:
- Kentik for Service Providers: https://www.kentik.com/product/service-provider/
- Kentik for Peering and Interconnection: https://www.kentik.com/product/peering-and-interconnection/
- Optimize Peering and Transit: https://www.kentik.com/solutions/optimize-peering-and-transit/
- Kentipedia: https://www.kentik.com/kentipedia/
─── ABOUT KENTIK ───
Kentik is the network intelligence platform for modern infrastructure teams. Kentik provides network observability, DDoS protection, cloud cost optimization, BGP monitoring, and AI-powered network analytics for enterprise, cloud, and service provider networks.
🔗 Start a free trial: https://www.kentik.com/go/get-started/
🔗 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@KentikHQ
#Kentik #ServiceProvider #ISP #Peering #TransitCost #OTT #NetFlow #NetworkIntelligence
CHAPTERS:
0:00 The Cost Challenge: Keeping Transit Costs Flat as Traffic Grows
0:09 MetroNet's Strategy: Identifying Peering Partners with NetFlow Data
0:25 The OTT Video Surge and Why Sustainable Network Cost Matters
0:31 Results: Lower Cost per Mbps Even as Traffic Grew 7x
0:54 Sculpting Traffic and Planning Cache Clusters for Live Streams
1:01 Working with Providers Using Shared, Provable Kentik Data
1:16 Using Kentik NMS for Acquisition Integration (SNMP Walk via Cloud Agents)
1:37 Searching for CDN Events and Traffic Spikes in Seconds
1:59 Kentik AI Advisor: Reporting That Teaches as It Builds
2:15 Onboarding New Engineers with Kentik as the First Tool