What is point of presence (POP)?
A point of presence is an artificial demarcation point OR interface point between communicating entities. It may include a meet-me-room.
In the US, this term became important during the court-ordered breakup of the Bell Telephone system. A point of presence was a location where a long-distance carrier could terminate services and provide connections into a local telephone network.
An Internet point of presence is an access point to the Internet. It is a physical location that houses servers, routers, MPLS & Ethernet switches also facilitating digital/analog call aggregators. It may be either part of the facilities of a telecommunications provider that the Internet service provider (ISP) rents or a location separate from the telecommunications provider. ISPs typically have multiple PoPs, sometimes numbering in the thousands. PoPs are also located at Internet exchange points and colocation centres.
An Internet exchange point (IX or IXP) is the physical infrastructure through which Internet service providers (ISPs) and content delivery networks (CDNs) exchange Internet traffic between their networks (autonomous systems).
The primary purpose of an IXP is to allow networks to interconnect directly, via the exchange, rather than through one or more third-party networks. The primary advantages of direct interconnection are cost, latency, and bandwidth.
Pop Co-Locations are quickly becoming important infrastructure for data centers to establish IXP facilities within an ISP’s main facilities.
A colocation centre or colocation center (also spelled co-location, collocation, colo, or coloc) is a type of data centre where equipment, space, and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understanding-point-presence-pop-co-location-robert-morlan/
Most large communications companies have their own dedicated backbones connecting various regions. In each region, the company has a Point of Presence (POP). The POP is a place for local users to access the company’s network, often through a dedicated line. The amazing thing is that there is no overall controlling network. Instead, there are several high-level networks connecting to each other through Network Access Points or NAPs.
https://blog.vtsl.net/vtsl-blog/the-internet-as-a-network-voip-business-phone-system-provider-uk