How to Deploy Reliable Overseas IT Infrastructure: Key Strategies and Tools

If your internet business is preparing to go overseas and you’re struggling with infrastructure deployment, this article shares practical insights gathered by Zenlayer over years of experience.

1. Grasp Business Expectations

Before laying down overseas IT infrastructure, repeatedly examine the business strategy and needs. Ask three critical questions:

What business is going overseas? Assess market potential and executive support.

Which regions are the business’s priority? Without clear priorities, you risk over‑investing in low‑impact areas.

What type of business is it? Different services (e.g., video, gaming) require distinct infrastructure such as IDC, network capacity, and latency considerations.

Also ensure the business understands realistic network latency (often 170‑200 ms even with dedicated lines) and the variability of local ISP quality.

2. Understand Local Conditions

Local environments are friendly yet complex: multiple tiers of content‑delivery providers, network operators, IXPs, and colocation facilities require extensive coordination. Network transparency varies—major regions like Europe and the US have clear interconnection policies, while many smaller markets are less transparent.

Export connectivity options include:

Private Peer (peering) : Direct BGP exchanges between peers.

Transit Service : Paying another ISP for upstream connectivity.

Public Peer : Free peering at an IXP after mutual agreement.

Relying solely on domestic IDC to serve overseas users is generally ineffective due to poor international bandwidth and high latency.

3. Build the Overall IT Infrastructure

Successful overseas deployment combines two tactics: “A. Build IDC cautiously + B. Deploy network broadly.”

IDC Layout

Rent rack space from local colocation providers, install your own servers and network equipment, and manage the network exit yourself. This reduces latency and improves stability but involves months of site selection, negotiations, equipment procurement, and local staffing.

Network Layout

Adopt a “1+N” strategy: purchase primary bandwidth from a major carrier (the “1”) and supplement with multiple peering connections at IXPs (the “N”). This approach ensures broad coverage while optimizing cost and performance.

Peering at European, North American, Singapore, or Hong Kong IXPs is common; leveraging your own IPv4 address space and AS number via BGP can directly connect to many ISPs, saving significant bandwidth costs.

Recommended Tools

Wikipedia

PeeringDB – www.peeringdb.com

HE BGP Tool – bgp.he.net

Submarine Cable Map – www.submarinecablemap.com

Dr. Peering – drpeering.net

Internet Data Analysis – http://as-rank.caida.org/

Official IXP sites (LINX, AMS‑IX, DE‑CIX, HKIX, CNIX, etc.)

These resources help you assess local network conditions, plan peering, and monitor performance.