As an update, despite the government shutdown (and the stopping of the Panda Cam service, the backbone has been as bullet-proof as I expected it would be; and that is due in no small part to the help from Cisco directly and the leading Value Added Reseller, WWT.
Leasing fiber has proven to be extremely affordable and the ONS switches have allowed us dual 40Gbps throughput paths from downtown DC to out near the Dulles Airport, reduced the latency from 20+ milliseconds to less than 20 microseconds. That is a 1000-fold reduction in latency. That means we can get it "good, fast, and cheap (less cost), and not be restricted to picking only two of the three. We will be continuing our buildout and hope to have a 400Gbps backbone by this time next year.

Martin Beckman
Senior Executive for Engineering and Plans