Newby discusses how AI inferencing is reshaping network infrastructure requirements and why geography still matters in the internet age.

Key topics covered:

• Low-latency inferencing: Why AI applications require a fundamental shift from the old CDN model to distributed, proximity-based network architecture with deterministic routing in sub-millisecond "latency zones"
• Internet exchange gaps: How many U.S. states lack even a single neutral internet exchange point, forcing local traffic to backhaul hundreds of miles and creating economic development barriers
• Connected Nation Internet Exchange Points (CNIXP): Newby and Connected Nation are building purpose-built internet exchange points in underserved markets (125+ cities identified) to support enterprise needs and AI workloads, starting with aerospace companies like Airbus and Boeing.
• Beyond the data center: Why the industry needs to shift focus from power-first mega data centers to network-first interconnection facilities that enable local traffic exchange and support emerging AI use cases
• Premium routing opportunity: How carriers can move beyond commoditized transit pricing by offering guaranteed low-latency routing to specific zones—the "FedEx model" for data delivery

From this episode: Akamai Boosts Inference With ‘Thousands’ of Nvidia Blackwell GPUs

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Resources: https://resources.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

How is this infrastructure boom similar to the 90s internet boom? How do we overcome the pricing paradox in telecom transport where demand keeps rising and service prices keep falling?

Today on TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we welcome Luis Colasante, Head of Procurement Strategy for Energy & Infrastructure at Colt Technology Services.

Luis brings a perspective from the intersection of energy strategy, critical infrastructure, and capital markets. In this episode, we move beyond the "compute bubble" to discuss why physical infrastructure—from subsea cables to the power grid—has become the primary bottleneck for the AI revolution.

Luis explains:

• The Energy-Connectivity Nexus: Why AI data centers require two to three times more power than traditional cloud facilities and how energy availability is now the ultimate gatekeeper for digital expansion.
• Shifting Investment Cycles: A look at the parallels (and differences) between the late-90s telecom bubble and today’s hyperscaler-led boom.
• Digital Sovereignty: Why governments are treating subsea cables as strategic national security assets, highlighted by the French government’s recent move with ASN.
• The Death of the "Toll" Model: Why selling raw bandwidth has become a deflationary commodity business and how the industry is pivoting toward intelligent service layers and "Network as a Service" 2.0.

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Resources: https://resources.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

This includes:

• Low Adoption and Key Challenges: Despite being a popular topic, AIOps adoption remains low due to concerns about trusting AI output (hallucinations) and the indeterminate nature of large language models.
• Data Integration and Security: The importance of integrating private data using methods like the model context protocol to make AI answers more deterministic. For security, Jason strongly recommends starting with a read-only, zero-trust mindset when exposing data to AI tools.
• Practical Use Cases: AI is most valuable for root cause analysis of common network problems (e.g., Wi-Fi authentication issues, circuit errors) and providing automated network summaries or predictive analysis.
• The Human Element: AI is seen as a powerful tool to increase the productivity of network engineers by handling low-level tasks, but it will not replace humans. Engineers remain crucial for exercising judgment and taking responsibility for service-impacting changes.

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Resources: https://resources.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Seva joins host Greg Bryan to tackle what is perhaps the dominant topic in telecom today: the impact of AI on the network. The pair distinguish between "AI for networking" and "networking for AI," and explore how AI training models are driving a dramatic increase in power consumption within data centers, with rack power capacity rapidly growing over the past few years.

• Seva explains how AI inferencing is creating a need for distributed network infrastructure, transforming the role of Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) from simply distributing content to enabling real-time interaction with AI models.
• He shares how Gcore is helping telcos and enterprises adopt AI solutions and exactly what that entails.
• We close out on the evolving definition of the "edge" as power becomes a bigger constraint than connectivity in facilitating AI workloads and what Seva sees for the near future of AI and networks.

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

To start, we're joined by Chalan Aras, Senior Vice President at Riverbed to discuss how the rise of Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally reshaping the way we think about the WAN.

In this episode, we dive into:

• AI for Networking vs. Networking for AI: How Riverbed balances using AI to manage IT operations (AIOps) with the physical necessity of moving massive amounts of data to "AI furnaces" (GPUs).
• The AI Data Tsunami: Why data is currently growing faster than infrastructure can be upgraded, and why Time is the most critical metric for AI project success.
• The Shift from SD-WAN to "Data Fabrics": Chalan shares a view on why SD-WAN may be fundamentally changing or even declining as the industry moves toward more dynamic, densely connected AI data fabrics centered on the cloud and data center.
• Unified Observability: The importance of moving away from siloed tools toward integrated platforms that can correlate data across desktops, mobile devices, and the core network to remediate issues before users even see them.

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

In this final episode of our three-part pod series reviewing the year in telecom—and looking ahead to 2026—we cover:

• How many data center projects were we tracking in 2025? And where are they located around the world?
• What kind of constraints are those projects encountering, and are rumors of a bubble warranted?
• Did we see an increase or decrease in cloud region development?
• What is surprising about the geographic location of cloud development in 2025?
• Are CDNs still relevant in the hyperscaler dominated world?
• Is bandwidth demand really all that massive in the AI world?

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Today's episode focuses on all things pricing and enterprise networks. We're joined by Rob Schult, who leads TeleGeography's pricing practice, and Brianna Boudreau, who manages our SD-WAN and NaaS research.

These experts tackle questions like:

• Are we really seeing the most rare phenomenon – telecom pricing stability?
• What role is AI playing in this?
• Just how big are some backbone connections and how do those prices relate to lower sized circuits?
• Has SD-WAN become the norm in the enterprise networks world?
• Which SD-WAN players are left? Is SD-WAN mostly about security now?

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Joining us for this submarine and terrestrial infrastructure review are friends of the pod Lane Burdette and Paul Brodsky.

In this episode of the TeleGeography Explains the Internet podcast, these experts address:

• How much of a submarine cable boom was there in 2025 and will that continue into 2026?
• Where are new builds located around the world and why?
• Will all this new capacity lead to over-supply?
• Are fiber developers having to chase AI data centers into novel locations?
• How are terrestrial builds related to submarine cable bottlenecks? 

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Or more to the point, how long does it take to actually get a circuit installed?

What do enterprises really think of their ISPs?

In this episode of the TeleGeography Explains the Internet podcast, Dennis Thankachan, CEO and co-founder of Lightyear, addresses these questions and more. He brings a wealth of findings from Lightyear's Enterprise ISP Experience Guide and gives us a look at what's going on in the ISP market.

But did you know that space weather could take out service on submarine cables?

Shibaji Chakraborty, a research scientist at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, joins the show to explain how space weather can affect the critical, metallic power-feed cables that run alongside the fiber-optic lines to power repeaters on the ocean floor. 

Shibaji shares historical examples and discusses the ongoing research and industry collaboration needed to better understand, model, and mitigate these risks.

We're adding this special bonus discussion to our submarine cable pod series. Catch up on our other cable conversations over here:

• All About Cable Economics
• All About Cable Security
• All About Cable Faults + Maintenance
• All About Cable Routing
• All About Cable Sensing

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

They address how providers can build networks that withstand outages, whether from someone who forgot to call the utility company or an anchor dragging on the seafloor.

The episode covers:

• Why it's crucial to have a transparent provider willing to share information about their network when they can, including the physical locations of fiber routes and who their upstream providers are.
• The importance of planning routes to avoid single points of failure. Tony makes the case for terrestrial networks that can serve as alternatives to some submarine cable routes, and getting the best mix of the two options.
• Insights on the future of network automation, emphasizing that it's not just about instant provisioning, but also providing customers with the information they need to make educated purchasing decisions.

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We welcome Mark Englund, CEO of Fibersense. Mark explains the fascinating world of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), and how this emerging technology is turning existing fiber optic cables into sentient, continuous sensors. We explore:

• How this is transforming the cable industry, providing unparalleled real-time protection by detecting anchors and fishing gear and other potential threats.
• How Fibersense uses machine learning to cut through the ocean's "cacophony" and make the data actionable for cable operators.
• Finally, we spend a little time looking beyond the subsea, exploring the immense potential of DAS for terrestrial fiber in applications like protection against excavators, water leak detection in city infrastructure, and even a new vision for traffic safety and autonomous.

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

For a change of pace, this episode focuses on what happens *on* the consumer internet, not just the underlying technology and business of the web.

You'll quickly see that Tim is an astute observer of human trends, with a wealth of insight on how the internet has complicated communication and contributed to humans' tendency to fall into tribalism.

Host Greg Bryan relates these insights to the structure of the global telecom industry as the pair considers the breadth of human history and how our brains, in some ways, are ill-equipped to handle the environment in which we find ourselves in the 21st century.

This discussion covers:

• The internet's role in the evolution of human communication, and context for this current moment of memes, sharing, liking, subscribing, and, in general, a culture of being terminally online.
• Tim's forthcoming book, which attempts to tell the story of everything from the Big Bang to the end of the universe. (Don't worry if that sounds like a big topic; the pair focuses on the section about AI.)
• Where AI will go from here? The conversation ties in how the internet is the physical backbone for this new "synthetic brain" that we are building, and what that might mean.

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Even among those familiar with the undersea cable market, many don't give much thought to where precisely the cables lie on the seafloor and what factors determine this geography.

Today's guest knows a thing or two about how it gets done. We welcome James Porter, Cable Route Engineer at Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN).

James spends his days studying maps to route submarine cables, ensuring ease of maintenance and compliance with guidelines. He joins Greg to discuss the challenges of seabed congestion, particularly in deep-water areas where new cables must be laid at a safe distance from existing ones to ensure they can be repaired in the future.

The pair also discuss:

• The role of the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) and its recommendations for planning new cables to avoid impacting existing systems.
• The complexities of geopolitics and physical geography, which often restrict cable routes and force them into congested choke points.
• The critical need for better communication and data sharing among industry players to more efficiently and safely manage the crowded seabed.

🎧 Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast

💻 TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/

📊 Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Our guests today presented a paper at SubOptic 25 detailing their study on global submarine cable maintenance and recommendations for the industry.

Mike Constable, Principal at Infra-Analytics, and Alan Mauldin, Research Director here at TeleGeography, joined the pod to discuss their review of cable faults and the readiness of the industry to fix problems over the coming years.

🎧 Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast

💻 TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/

📊 Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research 

Ferris Adi, Chief Information Security Officer at Trans Americas Fiber System (https://transamericasfiber.com/), joins to discuss specific threats to submarine cables and how best to build resiliency against them.

We also cover various regulatory and compliance issues that submarine cable operators face when landing in different countries, as well as geopolitical threats to cable systems.

🎧 Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast

💻 TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/

📊 Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research 

To start off the series, we couldn't think of a better guest than Senior Research Analyst Lane Burdette, an expert (and nerd) when it comes to cables. She and host Greg Bryan discuss the economics of submarine cables.

The conversation covers:

• A refresher on the cables themselves, and all of the components that go into building them and lighting them for data transmission service.
• The costs of these elements and how to construct the costs of building a sub cable.
• Who builds these cables and why, and then how cable builders make money on their investment through selling data transmission services, as well as how and why sub cable prices vary around the world.
• How supply and demand are likely to develop in this vast undersea market, and what Lane sees for the future of cable profitability.

🎧 Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast

💻 TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/

📊 Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Commissioner Simington has served on the Commission since late 2020. He brings a diverse background to the role, including experience with the NTIA.

The Commissioner and Host Greg Bryan cover several key issues facing the FCC:

👉 Several issues surrounding spectrum allocation and use. We talk about how FWA and LEO fit in spectrum plans, CBRS, unlicensed spectrum, and, of course, a bit on spectrum auctions.

👉 BIL and broadband development and the role wireless can play in closing the digital divide.

👉 The FCC’s role in submarine cable development and the Commissioner's views on ensuring submarine cable security.

👉 The Cyber Trust Mark and the FCC’s role in securing the ever-expanding threat perimeter and the Commissioner's views on how to get OEMs invested in keeping users safe.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Michael has extensive experience in the enterprise network space. We get his take on the industry's state of implementation of network automation among enterprises.

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We discuss Lightyear's State of Connectivity Report (https://lightyear.ai/ebooks/lightyears-state-of-connectivity-2025), which dovetails with the topics we research here at TeleGeography. It may be a perfect companion to our State of the Network effort. (https://www2.telegeography.com/download-state-of-the-network)

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/ Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

What is NaaS? Fahim joined us to clarify the often confusing world of Network as a Service (NaaS). We discuss Fahim's definition of NaaS and a breakdown of why it's important in the market. We also discuss the back end, examining what the carrier ecosystem needs to accomplish to make customer-facing NaaS a reality.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

⛓️‍💥 Analyst Lane Burdette joins the show to review some of the most headline-grabbing trends (https://blog.telegeography.com/what-to-know-about-submarine-cable-breaks) we saw in the submarine cable world.

☁️ While cables keep the continents connected, Principal Analyst Patrick Christian got on the mic to discuss one of the key reasons for that connectivity demand: cloud services.

📈 Of course, data centers underpin the cloud. For that conversation, we welcomed back Senior Manager Jon Hjembo after explaining our new Market Connectivity Score a few weeks ago (https://blog.telegeography.com/a-guide-to-calculating-the-worlds-next-interconnectivity-hub-according-to-you).

🐝 When it came to enterprise networks in 2024, it was hard to have a conversation that didn’t involve NaaS and security (https://blog.telegeography.com/when-networking-and-security-collide), specifically SASE. To talk about the trends surrounding the buzzwords, we had to call on Research Manager Brianna Boudreau.

🌎 So many of these conversations are underpinned by the transport network. To chat about the cost of sending bits around that global network, we were thrilled to welcome Research Director Rob Schult to tell us what was noteworthy in the world of telecom pricing in 2024.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We discuss the shift away from MPLS and toward the internet and how that transition can bring many benefits to an enterprise; however, it also comes with complexity and new challenges, especially in sourcing and managing internet links worldwide. 

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We've heard these questions repeatedly, so we did what any reasonable telecom data provider would do: we developed an interactive tool to rank the world's best-connected and fastest-growing cities, scoring them on a scale of 0 to 100 across nine key categories.

This week's guest is resident data center expert Jon Hjembo. He explains how we developed the Market Connectivity Score and reveals what initial rankings tell us about the interconnectivity landscape and metro areas to watch, like Kuala Lumpur.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Our guest today is Jamie Pugh, CTO at Globalgig. Jamie joined the show to ponder automation and discuss enterprise network orchestration in the era of an increasingly complex WAN.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

• What is the Internet? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-the-internet 
• What is a Transport Network? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-a-transport-network
• What Are Data Centers? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-are-data-centers
• What is the Cloud? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-the-cloud

Today, we answer our final, lingering question: What is a WAN? Brianna Boudreau, TeleGeography's current SD-WAN guru, joins us to explain.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

To explain how it works, Senior Research Manager Patrick Christian joins us to talk cloud. We explain what it means to get something "as-a-service," hyperscalers, CDNs, and how companies get to the cloud.

More from this series:

What is the Internet? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-the-internet

What is a Transport Network? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-a-transport-network

What Are Data Centers? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-are-data-centers

What is a WAN? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-a-wan

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Senior Research Manager Jon Hjembo helps us understand data center types, their defining features, and what happens inside these facilities. We discussed who owns these structures and how their geography informs how the internet works.

More from this series:

What is the Internet? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-the-internet

What is a Transport Network? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-a-transport-network

What is the Cloud? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-the-cloud

What is a WAN? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-a-wan

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

More from this series:

What is the Internet? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-the-internet

What Are Data Centers? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-are-data-centers

What is the Cloud? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-the-cloud

What is a WAN? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-a-wan

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Computers can only understand two things: on and off. Everything that we do on the internet is in binary—a series of 1s and 0s representing on and off—which gives instructions to your computer to do all the amazing things it does.

This means that the very bottom of the internet is a system for sending those 1s and 0s over wires (or spectrum in some cases). Whatever you do on the internet—email, videos, chats—the information is translated into that binary by your devices and then transmitted via packets.

We cover this process and lots more in the first episode of our five-part special to literally explain the internet:

What is a Transport Network? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-a-transport-network

What Are Data Centers? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-are-data-centers

What is the Cloud? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-the-cloud

What is a WAN? https://blog.telegeography.com/what-is-a-wan

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We also discuss the digital divide and how to best use the limited resource of spectrum to ensure connectivity in our increasingly digital world.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Paul has a deep history in the networking world, so he approaches his role at Nokia—NE Americas CTO—from the perspective of a network engineer.

Although our main topics this week are enterprise cloud and right-sizing cloud utilization, we use those as a springboard into many topics circling the state of the network in 2023.

We touch on the history of the enterprise’s move into the cloud and why some companies have reevaluated their cloud strategy in recent years. 

As it so often does, the geography of the cloud comes up, along with Paul’s take on location and design in the cloud. This brings us to the edge—not only what it means and where it is, but some of the new and exciting use cases of what edge computing facilitates.

Embedded in that conversation is also 5G and how mobile can push the network into being a central part of the business. And we can’t resist bringing up AI/ML.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

After nailing down a solid definition of FWA in the market today, we run through the factors to consider when deploying FWA. Toby explains what Cellsmart—a division of SmartCIC focused on FWA—does for service providers and enterprises interested in going through this process.

Next, Toby offers some real-world use cases and shares how he sees the fixed wireless and wireless markets developing over the next few years, briefly delving into the broader implications of broadband access for economic development worldwide.

This episode should leave you with a deeper understanding of the development of FWA and the ability to evaluate and plan for what's next.

Cellsmart Mapping Project: 

Heatmap of Tests https://survey.smartcic.com/map

Tests By Date https://survey.smartcic.com/historical

Last 24 Hours Drive Testing https://survey.smartcic.com/testdrive

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We first identify how the network has changed over the past few years, gauging its impact on the threat landscape and how networks perform generally. Also on the agenda: why middle-mile performance and security should be part of the equation, and how lessons learned from the challenges of creating CDNs are instructive about modern issues in network security.

Finally, Joe offers an interesting take on a question that comes up often on the podcast—what does it mean to have a WAN in this environment?

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

He talks to Greg about programmatic advertising—not just what it is, but how the practice impacts the mobile market. And then we get to the fun stuff: How do these advertising practices actually impact the mobile market? Is mobile advertising evolving? Does it present unique opportunities?

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

The Ohio chapter kindly agreed to let host Greg give a live talk on how enterprise WANs are changing and the implications of those changes for network costs. We brought lots of WAN data, fielded tons of questions, and very much enjoyed the networking vibes in Ohio. 

Full disclosure, we're definitely not in the sound booth for this episode. We taped it live and you'll get some extra audience noise in your headphones, but I like to think that just makes you feel like you were there.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We asked William to discuss the history of enterprise cloud and highlight a few of the bigger issues in enterprise cloud networking today. His answers might surprise you. We even discuss supercloud—what it is and what its implications are. Grab your super suit and punch the play to hear the full discussion.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We start with Mark’s definition of NaaS and where he sees its availability in the current telecom services landscape. He also shares six important NaaS characteristics: visible, configurable, priceable, orderable, deployable, and manageable.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

After years of helping to drive CTA's growth in the region, Luis, now Vice President, has many valuable insights to share with TeleGeography Explains the Internet.

Peter Wood, TeleGeography’s Senior Analyst covering Latin America, joins to cover the history of networks in the region, going back to the days when even intra-South American traffic tromboned to Miami and back.

We also discuss directly connecting developing markets worldwide, without passing through the U.S. or Western Europe, and the economic connections between East Asia and Latin America. Finally, we talk about the cloud and dig into the areas of the Latin American telecom market that Luis views as the most important to develop in the coming years.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Stan explains the market drivers and why telecom service providers need to automate to stay relevant and competitive. He then outlines the path carriers can take to achieve this. Next, we discuss his report and get details on the state of automation adoption in the telecom industry, why customized or proprietary APIs are inefficient, the benefits of standardization, how enterprise drives automation, and even how blockchain will be involved in network contracts.

Download the MEF State of the Industry Report https://www.mef.net/mef-state-of-the-industry-report/

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We also touch on Dennis’ skepticism about frequently mentioned WAN trends and technologies.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

As one-half of our enterprise team's two-man band, Mei is the perfect person to help us discuss results from our recently published WAN Manager Survey. We highlight the key trends in multinational corporate networks worldwide, covering MPLS vs. DIA use in the underlay, SD-WAN adoption, cloud connectivity, NaaS, and more.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

This week's guests are well-positioned to tell us. They join us from the UK’s National Oceanography Centre: Isobel Yeo, Researcher in Geology and Volcanology, and Michael Clare, Principal Researcher of Ocean BioGeoscience and Marine Environmental Adviser to the International Cable Protection Committee. 

Mike and Izzy are geologists specializing in the seafloor, so their research has become vital for the submarine cable community.

While most cable faults are due to human activity, a fair number are caused by changes in the seafloor. This includes earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and even flooding on land. 

We discuss the myriad ways that the dynamic nature of what lies under the surface can damage cables. We even get into the history of natural disasters and communications cables going back a century or more. 

We get into a specific seismic event—the recent Tongan volcanic eruption—as well as ongoing threats to sub cables, including how climate change could increase risks and how we can start to mitigate them. 

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

It's always nice to have industry association folks on the show. I've found they can pull back from the perspective of a single vendor or operator to paint a broader picture of the challenges facing different corners of the telecom industry. This is exactly what Dario does in this interview on all things mobile. 

Dario first explains what the MEF does (and does not do) for its members. But, perhaps more importantly, he provides a great overview of the key issues at play in the global mobile market.

And what might those issues be?

We talk about fraud—always needing to stay one step ahead of the bad guys—and what's happening with roaming as carriers turn off 2 and 3G networks. We get into security for mobile networks, meeting ever-increasing mobile bandwidth demand, and 5 and even 6G mobile service. 

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

With a plethora of cheeky, AI-generated content out there already, we don't have to tell you that AI has been in the news a lot lately. And I know "AI" is a capacious term; this week's conversation focuses on how AI/ML will actually impact telecom networks.

In fact, we've talked a lot on TeleGeography Explains the Internet about the meaningful changes that have come to corporate networks over the past several years—although it's often in the context of impacting the underlay selection, cloud utilization, security, and other factors.

Our interview with Kannan is all about how AIOPs (don't worry, we'll define this in the show) are an important tool for meeting the many challenges that come with a reimagined WAN.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

With an extensive background in security, Renuka has a clear and interesting take on what a secure WAN looks like. 

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

In other words, this consortium of carriers routinely collaborates on solving some of the biggest challenges facing their industry. They also have an innovative way of sharing data among participants, which benefits all involved.

To get into carrier collaboration, I'm joined by Philippe Millet, Founder and Chairman of the i3forum, as well as Michael Lawrence, Director of Business Intelligence, Operations and Transformation at Tata Communications. Philippe walks us through why he founded the forum and how it operates. And how exactly do members develop, curate, and share recommendations with one another? 

This is the perfect segue to chat with Michael, an active member of the i3forum. He offers an inside perspective on the Insights tool and the benefits of connecting with other carriers. 

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

In this episode, we discuss how investors view the telecom industry and how Aaron classifies publicly traded telecom companies.

You'll hear Aaron's view of the long-term profitability of network operators and what he looks for in making investment decisions in the telecom space. We also talked about the future of the industry, what might lead to competitive advantage for some companies, and how long that might last.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Disclaimer: This podcast expresses the views of its participants only as of the date indicated, which are subject to change without update and may not represent the views of Recurve Capital LLC [(“Recurve”)]. Recurve makes no representation that any past securities performance discussed should be an indication of future results. This podcast does not constitute investment advice, or any offer to sell or buy securities or other investment products. Recurve or its affiliates may from time to time have positions in the securities discussed, which do not represent all of the securities purchased, sold or recommended by Recurve to its advisory clients.

Our own Research Analyst Lane Burdette was introduced to TeleGeography when she came across our Submarine Cable Map a few years ago. Now part of the team that creates this map, Lane is understandably stoked about this week's 2023 Submarine Cable Map launch.

It seems like the perfect time to welcome Lane—along with our incredibly talented Designer and Cartographer Larry Lairson—to TeleGeography Explains the Internet.

In this episode, we first talk to Lane about what data goes into our submarine cable maps, how we collect that information, what's new in this year's edition, and more.

Then we pass the mic to Larry to discuss his design process. How does he translate the data into beautiful visuals? How geographically accurate is the info on our maps? How are the design themes chosen for printed maps?

Hit the play button below to step into the world of TeleGeography map making.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Now Vice President of Client Services at Marlabs, Rohan joined us at TeleGeography Explains the Internet to talk about all that goes into the modern digital transformation.

While we had a lot to say about WAN optimization and partner ecosystems, it was getting into the future of networking that makes this episode special.

Rohan shared his insight on what the market needs in its future infrastructure professionals, from training considerations to getting young developers and computer science students interested in networking. 

Come for the data center migration talk, stay for the thoughtful musings on the future of the industry. 

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

The conversation also covers the cash cow that voice once was and what's happening now. Voice enthusiasts will appreciate that we get into the history of OTT and VoIP technologies and how they've disrupted the market. And we couldn't leave out mobile, especially as Paul came to TeleGeography from a mobile provider.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

One month into 2023, Mattias Fridström, Chief Evangelist at Arelion, very kindly agreed to scrutinize his 2022 forecast with us. As you'll hear, Mattias has been at Arelion (formerly Telia) for a long time. From his perspective within a tier 1 provider, he has an outstanding view of the industry. He uses that vantage point to write a forward-looking article every year, reviewing trends he expects to see in the days ahead.

We were thrilled that Mattias visited us to review predictions from days past. We start with the top three global carrier trends. Listen in for a closer examination of network security, utilization of the public internet, and disaggregated networks. 

We also consider issues that arose in 2022—both anticipated and unanticipated—like skills gaps, cost increases/shortages like “chipmaggedon," and global issues outside the telecom industry. 

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

In this episode, you'll learn how to define SASE based on your audience and identify the key elements that belong in the SASE framework. We then dig into the fast-paced update cycle for security software. Why is it necessary for the modern network? And what are the implications for upskilling and managed security services?

Next, Jeremiah and Greg focus on zero trust and why enterprises need this security posture to be a part of any SASE framework. And we can’t talk about SASE without hitting on SD-WAN and the role of access in the SASE acronym.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Khalid Raza was involved in some of the earliest large-scale MPLS deployments. Then, after seeing the limitations of MPLS, he co-founded Viptela–diving head-first into the SD-WAN revolution.

Khalid is now the Founder and CEO of Graphiant, a Silicon Valley-based startup. In this interview, he describes how enterprise networks have changed and why we need an approach beyond MPLS and SD-WAN.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We also discuss the origin of Graphiant, its approach to solving modern network problems, and how it differentiates itself from other NaaS and WAN services in the current market.

Of course, you can’t talk about networking without talking about security, so that comes up as well. We also look at how Khalid sees enterprise networks developing in the years to come.

From This Episode:

• The WAN in 2022
• Episode 406 | Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality
• Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge
• Episode 315 | How Enterprises Are Implementing NaaS (And Leaving MPLS)
• Episode 313 | The Need for NaaS
• Learn more about the WAN Manager Survey
• Explore the WAN Forum

We're looking forward to exploring the global business of connectivity with you in the year ahead. Cheers to that.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Part two takes us on a journey through the last 12 months of submarine cable news, SD-WAN, security, and major world events that intersected with telecom infrastructure. We were thrilled to have TeleGeography's Alan Mauldin, Brianna Boudreau, and Tim Stronge join us.

Not only did they bring data on the year that was, but they brought a wealth of insight on what we might expect to see across the industry in 2023.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Part one takes us through the year in wholesale internet, cloud services, transport pricing, data centers, and more. We talk inflation, we talk energy, we talk geography. And we're only just getting started.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We recently asked Jim to share some of his knowledge on the pod. In this episode, we view middle-mile problems and solutions from a provider perspective and discuss how the middle mile is developing in the current WAN environment.

Then we turn our focus to the digital divide. Why do we need to bridge it—and how?

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Our first topic: Lifecycle Service Orchestration. What is it, how has it progressed, and what does it do for the carrier community? We also get into enterprise automation, operational APIs, new SASE and ZT standards, and more.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

What is it? How is it being used in telecom? And why is it crucial that carriers move toward automation?

Of course, we had to tie in the impact on the enterprise WAN, as well as the future of automation—including practical uses for blockchain telecom.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

For that, we're so glad to have on our outspoken and knowledgeable friend Michael Wynston, Director of Network Security Architecture & Automation at Fiserv. Michael has now been on TeleGeography's podcast not once, not twice, but three times—and it's safe to say that he really knows his stuff.

What are fabric providers doing, and how do they fit into the context of the traditional WAN? Alongside your typical MPLS-Internet hybrid network? As a replacement for some of that WAN? Listen to our conversation to find out.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Lucky for us, he was this week's guest on TeleGeography Explains the Internet.

We covered the state of lift-and-shift into the cloud, the perseverance of MPLS, real use cases of SD-WAN, and, of course, lots on how network changes have impacted the visualization of network performance and security. (And how that needs to evolve.)

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

We discuss how, while wires still reign supreme, satellite is having a resurgence. And maybe the potential to disrupt the wireline market? Listen to our conversation to find out. It was also an excellent opportunity to get Alan Mauldin on the line to discuss his latest blog post, which is all too relevant to our satellite chat.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

He was a fantastic guest who brought a wealth of knowledge—and some really excellent stories—about mobile adoption as infrastructure in Africa. Senior Research Manager Patrick Christian joined in to discuss mobile-first economies, the role of hyperscalers/data centers in Africa, and the future of African telecom.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

But as we got to talking before our interview, we realized that these two topics are deeply interrelated. And Jim has lots of insight to share about where the market is headed.

We waded through how Equinix is approaching NaaS from a solutions standpoint and what it means to truly be an edge data center.

Join us for a conversation about NaaS, Equinix’s role in that market as a data center provider, how traditional telcos are positioned to provide NaaS, how Equinix is developing edge services in conjunction with emerging networking solutions, and much more.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

This season will be our biggest yet. It’s so big, we couldn’t contain our conversations to just the WAN. That’s why the WAN Manager Podcast is now: TeleGeography Explains the Internet.

New name. More content. Same great show. See you next week.

There's a physical geography problem that's not easy to overcome. We're talking about pulling and maintaining wires to all corporate sites, which is especially challenging when customers need physical diversity and protection.

Wireless has long been a backup of last resort for many users, but 5G has presented the promise of relieving this pain point. Let's talk about it. Greg welcomes Inseego Senior VP and GM of Enterprise, Ritesh Mukherjee, to the podcast. The pair chatted about 5G as a local access game-changer, got into some use cases, and looked to the future of wireless in the WAN. 

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

In episodes past, we've highlighted the framework, concept, market players, and products available. Now we consider things from another perspective. Ameet Naik, Director of Product Marketing at Cloudflare, takes center stage to help us tackle some real-world NaaS use cases.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Back then, the big use case was making sure that carrier and customer were on the same page about how much MPLS and access prices had fallen over the life of a contract—and how far prices would probably fall in the next several years.

We still do some benchmarks that look like this. But, more often than not, benchmarking is much more complicated these days.

Enterprises often have some idea of the network they need to accommodate changes in IT—but the path to get from here to there, and the costs of the journey—are far from clear.

To help us bring some order to the chaos, we're glad to welcome back Ian Calderbank of Calderbank Consulting. Ian chats with Greg about legacy networks, related pain points, evolving business needs, and contours of the "target state" network that WAN teams should work toward.

From This Episode

• Episode 215 | Managing Multinetwork Network Modifications
• Episode 308 | Data Centers and Digital Transformation
• What SD-WAN Features Do WAN Professionals Actually Want?
• Prominence of DIA in the WAN
• Global DIA Prices and Trends
• DIA Is Hot on the Heels of MPLS
• About our WAN Cost Benchmark
• About our WAN Geography Benchmark
• Explore the WAN Forum

We've been watching the ways in which NaaS has emerged as specific products/solutions from vendors, as well as how it integrates with existing WAN strategies from the enterprise side.

Of course, there's a lot to cut through in terms of how vendors present their services to the market—and what enterprises can actually adopt right now to solve specific problems. 

It only seemed fitting that we welcome back Jason Gintert, CTO and Co-Founder of WAN Dynamics, to the pod to break it all down.

Come for the network-as-a-service talk, stay for Greg's proposed new pronunciation of "NaaS" and the pair's take on if the private WAN is disappearing (gasp).

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

To help us navigate how these changes are impacting the modern infrastructure team—especially with respect to SD-WAN—Greg welcomes Nav Chander, Head of Service Provider SD-WAN/SASE Product Marketing at Aruba, to the podcast.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Our guest on this week's episode navigated the added challenge of running a network within the healthcare industry, where business needs were changing in real-time.

Carl Flaherty, Manager of Network Services at Main Line Health, shares his network story in our latest pod.

Greg and Carl talk about pre-pandemic networking, as well as how Carl's team solved the many COVID-related problems thrown their way. This includes setting up pop-up COVID testing sites, preparing radiologists for remote work, and putting out infrastructure fires while social distancing. 

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

To explore how global events, natural or human, impact the internet and how to stay on top of those headlines, we welcome a leading expert on this topic to the show. Doug Madory, Director of Internet Analysis at Kentik, sits with Greg to get into recent world events that have had real, consequential impacts on the internet.

The pair had much to talk about, from the volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami that knocked out internet access in Tonga to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the corresponding information war.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

When Ciaran joined us last year, we spent lots of time talking about cloud adoption and SD-WAN. You might remember that we discussed how freeing up the transport layer from single-source carrier WANs had created a brand new challenge: how to manage the middle mile.

Almost a year on from that conversation, Greg and Ciaran delve into what we've seen from enterprises who are solving this middle mile problem. The pair get into the use cases for implementing a middle mile solution, related products, and the adoption cycle for middle mile services.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Moving the data center off-premises or shifting data and workloads to the cloud doesn’t dematerialize this fact. You still need wires that connect to servers that sit in a rack at a hyperscaler or neutral data center facility.

More than ever, enterprises need to understand the market landscape and pricing structure at what were once “colocation” facilities. (Which were once only interesting to service providers and ISPs.) 

To help us navigate the world of data center operators and pricing, Greg welcomes TeleGeography's resident interconnection expert Jon Hjembo.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

What'd we find? To start, the extended effects of COVID-related remote work have accelerated WAN trends like migration to the cloud, SD-WAN adoption, and incorporating alternative access technologies into the underlay.

Network managers at large multinational corporations are now faced with accommodating a remote-friendly, bring-your-own-device, work-from-anywhere environment. Many will likely be rethinking their network architecture in the coming years, moving closer to internet-first networks and further away from MPLS.

Greg welcomes TeleGeography Senior Analyst Elizabeth Thorne back to the pod to break it all down.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Over that same period, wireless grew as a percentage of sites in our study—but it still represents fewer than one in ten sites, on average.

That said, we might expect to see that increase significantly over the next few years, particularly as fixed wireless 5G plans emerge.

Founder and CEO of Blue Wireless Ivan Landen joins Greg to discuss how that transition might look.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

The pair covers the basics of network automation, getting engineers/network architects up to speed in this area, and attracting the right new talent for these network transformations.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

There's no way we can dig into this topic without touching on multicloud strategies.

Even back in 2019—when we surveyed WAN managers about their organization’s cloud infrastructure—we found that three in four enterprises had already gone multicloud, with at least two IaaS providers. We also found that the majority of enterprises were in hybrid cloud situations, with some mix of public, private, and on-premises data centers.

And to help us get deeper into all things cloud, we're thrilled to have CEO of Go Cloud Careers Mike Gibbs on deck.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

To compensate for the cliffhanger, we've packed part two with enough data and lively conversation to knock your stockings off their mantel. We're talking 5G deployment trends, the rising popularity of multi-cloud, new backbone/transport services from your friendly neighborhood CSP, and more.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

To keep the conversation on track, Elizabeth made a list (and checked it twice), but we couldn't fit everything into one episode. Part 1 covers SASE adoption, SD-WAN maturation, how remote work is changing the face of corporate networking, the evolving MPLS vs. DIA matchup, and more.

We'll be back next week with Part 2, covering 5G deployment trends, the rising popularity of multi-cloud, and the new backbone/transport services that CSPs are starting to provide.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

To kick off Season 3 of the pod, Greg calls on longtime colleague Rob Schult, who also happens to be a Research Director here at TeleGeography, to draw a connection between the wholesale and enterprise retail markets.

What should IT infrastructure and sourcing teams pay attention to in the wholesale market? You’ll also hear about IP transit and why the vast majority of enterprises are not buying it (even though the internet is increasingly a primary—or at least secondary—method of site connectivity in the enterprise WAN).

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

In our latest conversation, Greg welcomes MEF CTO Pascal Menezes to walk us through the work the MEF is doing on standardizing the enterprise network.

Why is SD-WAN certification a good idea? How is the WAN developing? What is MEF doing in the Zero Trust Security and SASE space? Listen in to find out.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Greg welcomes Dave Ward, CEO of PacketFabric, to talk through the bigger picture of how these services are emerging in the enterprise network market.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

But are all of these services created equal? What does it take for your solution to qualify as SD-WAN?

Today we pull back and discuss SD-WAN definitions and certification. Greg aims to better understand the exact definition of SD-WAN and how related certification can benefit both end-users and managed service providers. And for that, we're so glad to welcome a true expert on this topic: Marc Cohn, Principal Technology Strategist at Spirent.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Today we'll share some perspective on these questions with another case study, this time with Mark Williams, Sr. Manager of Global Networks at BorgWarner.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Whether we're talking security and SASE, NaaS, or cloud computing—or many other topics, honestly—edge networks and edge computing are likely to make it into the conversation.

Greg welcomes two experts from Catchpoint to help us dig in: CEO Medhi Daoudi and VP of Operations Tony Ferrelli. Medhi's recent blog post Monitoring at the Edge of the Third Act of the Internet sets the tone for a great conversation, spanning enterprise apps, network monitoring, and the geography of the internet.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

In his conversation with Greg, Ian details the network transformation process for a multinational staffing agency. An environment packed with knowledge workers and downtown office space sounds like an enviable position to be in as a WAN manager, right? But there's no shortage of lessons learned as the pair gets into pre-SD-WAN solutions, organizing major network transitions, overlay/underlay troubleshooting, and security strategy.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

May it be local internet breakouts from a variety of ISPs alongside MPLS or sourcing a backbone between data center nodes, many enterprises have taken on a “telco-like” role in buying connectivity directly.

For more on the state of sourcing, Greg welcomes Steve Rome, Chief Revenue Officer and co-founder of Advantage. The pair wastes no time cutting through the complexity of sourcing the modern WAN.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

This means most companies are dealing with multi-cloud connectivity in some shape or form; WAN managers of course have to handle that from a performance and cost perspective.

Today we hear from a data center insider, diving into network-as-a-service models, multi-cloud connectivity, data center interconnectivity, and the intersection of these topics.

We're joined by Christian Koch, Senior Director of Interconnection at DataBank.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Whether you're joining us from the vendor or enterprise side, you might want to know why submarine cables—usually considered a wholesale telecom issue—are relevant to the corporate WAN.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Like many telecom terms, this is one that you might have to follow up with “what exactly do you mean by that?”

Greg dives into how one approaches the mysterious middle mile with Ciaran Roche, founder & CTO of Coevolve. What are vendors doing? How does Coevolve advise clients on all things middle mile? How is the middle mile space developing? Listen and learn.

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Okay, we have to ask: what is the role of MPLS in the WAN moving forward? Industry expert and independent consultant Keith Langridge joins Greg to discuss the many different ways you can try to answer this question.

Is MPLS dead? Dying? Here to stay? Too complicated to say?

The WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet. Hosted by Greg Bryan.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research