http://bluematt.bitcoin.ninja/2016/07/07/relay-networks/
Matt Corallo, aka "BlueMatt" has a blog post about his experience running the Bitcoin Relay Network http://bitcoinrelaynetwork.org/ , its successor systems, Fast Internet Bitcoin Relay Engine (FIBRE) http://bitcoinfibre.org/, and efforts to bring the same advantages to default bitcoin core nodes with its new "Compact Blocks" feature.