[rdl]

LINX just runs inter-provider switch fabric, though, which is vastly simpler, and just runs two separate switch fabrics for customers to plug into.

Running an anti-DDoS/CDN service which handles traffic like Cloudflare does would be vastly more difficult.

It's certainly possible to do, but I think the given ~reasonable engineering resources, the net reliability of a heterogenous J/C version of CloudFlare would be less, and performance worse, than what they have now.

Switch fabric is a lot closer to the "run different models of hard drives" (although, you don't do that WITHIN a RAID group either -- you do it on separate RAIDs and possibly separate chassis), than routing infrastructure (which is like running a 777 with 1 GE engine and 1 RR engine. At best, you can turn it back into a 747 and run 2 GE engines and 2 RR engines.)

[DASD]

I'm not going to go much further because this debate is useless without a context of limits and expectations. No one is discussing simplicity. LINX's operation is not simple. A specialized provider is offloading a difficult function as a core competency in return for simplicity. As an end-user, the difficulty is a non-factor. Just make it happen. Couple in "reasonable" with expectations and then we know what to expect. If it costs the moon to never make this happen again, then charge accordingly. If this happens once in a blue moon, then charge a lesser price.