A peering is a network interconnection, established to communicate data over shorter, direct, efficient, and cost-effective network paths. Academic networks use peering agreements to connect its affiliates to each other, or to bring relevant content through a preferred path. In academic networks, peerings are usually done with direct connections with shared costs or through the so-called Traffic Exchange Points (TEP) or Open Exchange-Points (OXP). Peerings can also be established with data centers or commercial providers, wherever its content is relevant to academic partners.
RedCLARA has multiple peering agreements at global level, including: Internet2 (United States NREN), GÉANT (Pan-European region NREN), CANARIE (Canada), SOX (Southern Crossroads, USA) ESNET (Energy Sciences Network, USA), SINET (Japan), Amlight (America's Lightpaths, USA), Microsoft and Google.
Peering agreements have multiple benefits, such as: increasing network utilization, ensuring an optimal route for academic traffic, ensuring that there is no congestion, and allowing redundancies to improve service availability.