TeleGeography Explains the Internet

Perhaps you've seen the Aurora Borealis. This is a beautiful example of what we call space weather. 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 EconomicsAll About Cable SecurityAll About Cable Faults + MaintenanceAll About Cable RoutingAll 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

Tony O’Sullivan, CEO of RETN, joins Greg to discuss network resiliency. 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: 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 final episode of this special podcast series about undersea cables, we're exploring the rapidly evolving technology of using fiber optic cables as remote sensors. 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: 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 bonus podcast welcomes Tim Urban, author of the blog Wait But Why (https://waitbutwhy.com/) and the book "What's Our Problem?" 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: 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

Where do operators physically place their submarine cables, and why does that matter? 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: 🎧 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 submarine cables hit the mainstream media, it might be because something has gone wrong. Especially when faults lead to a bottleneck that slows down or, in rare cases, even stops internet traffic for some people. 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

Let's talk about keeping submarine cables secure. 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

We're kicking off a brand new mini-series all about *submarine cables.* 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: 🎧 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 today is FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. 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. https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcasthttps://blog.telegeography.com/https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

Today on TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we welcome Michael Martin, formerly a global network and security architect at McKinsey. Michael has extensive experience and knowledge in the enterprise network space. We get his take on the industry's state of implementation of network automation among enterprises. More Good Stuff on Network Automation: Upskilling Network Architects for the Automated NetworkWhat Network Managers Should Know About AI and Machine LearningHow NaaS Relates to SDN and AutomationWhat Makes a WAN Truly Secure?

We're pumped to have Dennis Thankachan, Co-Founder and CEO of Lightyear, back on TeleGeography Explains the Internet. This time around, we discuss their State of Connectivity Report, which dovetails nicely with many of the issues we research here at TeleGeography. (Perhaps this read is a perfect companion to our State of the Network? A match made in heaven, etc.) In this episode, we first discuss how Lightyear has seen network prices react to global inflation, in some cases bucking the very long-term trend that telecom prices always go down. We also talk about point-to-point service in the enterprise network and how DWDM is emerging as a more common product for enterprise customers. Related Good Stuff: Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?A Deep Dive Into Global Pricing Trends PricingWhat You Need to Know About Network as a Service in 2025

We haven't been getting enough fiber here at TeleGeography Explains the Internet, but we're about to change that. Nutritional jokes aside, this week, we welcome Todd Chapman, a veteran in fiber development, to the hot seat. Todd walks us through the ins and outs of Layer 0 of the physical infrastructure underlying data transmission. Some classic explaining of the internet. In this episode, you'll get a walkthrough of the process that takes a fiber project from manufacturing to lit service—get ready to learn a thing or two about different types of fiber and their uses. We also get some good explanations of the dark fiber market and an overview of when enterprises might be interested in leasing dark fiber instead of lit service. More Fiber-Rich Content: How Many Submarine Cables Are There, Anyway?Submarine Cable FAQsThe Key Trends Shaping Long-Haul Capacity DemandThe Speed of Light Never Changes—Except When it DoesWill Fiber Pairs Become the New Coin of the Realm?Comparing the Fiber Strategies of the Big Three U.S. Mobile OperatorsMeet The Father of Fiber Optic Communication

Welcome back, TeleGeography Explains the Internet listeners. We took a nice long break for the holidays, and we've returned refreshed with another batch of telecom conversations for your feed. Our first guest of 2025 is Fahim Sabir, Director of Digital Solutions at Colt. Fahim joined us to clarify the often confusing world of Network as a Service (NaaS). As you know, our whole deal is explaining the internet, so we started by discussing Fahim's definition of NaaS and a breakdown of why it's important in the market right now. We also discuss the back end, examining what the carrier ecosystem still needs to accomplish to make customer-facing NaaS a full reality. More NaaS Talk: When Networking and Security CollideEpisode 504 | How NaaS Relates to SDN and AutomationEpisode 315 | How Enterprises Are Implementing NaaS Episode 313 | The Need for NaaSEpisode 219 | NaaS, the Cloud, and the Future of 5GEpisode 213 | Nailing Down Network-as-a-ServiceReal Talk: Are WAN Managers Adopting NaaS?

Happy holidays, TeleGeography Explains the Internet listeners. As the year ends, a few teammates joined us on the podcast to review the major telecom events of the past 12 months and chat about what we might anticipate in 2025. Some highlights 👇 headline-grabbing trendsexplaining our new Market Connectivity Score a few weeks backNaaS and security

Vinay Prabhu, Director of Product Management at Graphiant, is our latest guest on TeleGeography Explains the Internet. He recently joined us to discuss the intricacies of moving data around the globe. Vinay outlines the reasons you should be thinking about your data in motion and what Graphiant is doing to ensure its safe passage, particularly as AI becomes more prevalent.

To truly explain the internet, sometimes we have to get into where your internet comes from. For that, our guest today is Rutger Bevaart, CEO and Co-founder of GNX. As you'll hear, Rutger has a deep history in the telecom industry and founded GNX to streamline internet sourcing, which is undoubtedly a pain point for many listeners. 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. From This Episode: Episode 606 | When Networking and Security CollideEpisode 501 | Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?Episode 413 | A Brief History of Networking as a ServiceTeleGeography Literally Explains the WANAbout our WAN Cost BenchmarkAbout our WAN Geography Benchmark

There's a common theme we encounter here at TeleGeography Explains the Internet. It goes like this: the enterprise WAN has undergone significant changes in the past several years to align the network with digital transformation, cloud adoption, rising bandwidths, and cost control. These changes—while making the network more resilient and affordable—can introduce new challenges in complexity and management. Our guest today is Marcel Stadler, Product Manager of SD-WAN at Open Systems. Marcel joins our semi-annual conversation on this landscape; he outlines how managed SD-WAN providers like Open Systems approach these issues with their enterprise customers. (Yes, we chat about SASE and integrating security into an SD-WAN because we know what the listeners want.) From This Episode: Building a Network Business Case: Essential Data Insights for CIOsEpisode 508 | How Geography Influences Network SecurityEpisode 421 | What Makes a WAN Truly Secure?Episode 414 | SASE and SecureEpisode 312 | SASE Isn't Revolutionary. It's Evolutionary.TeleGeography Literally Explains the WANWhat SD-WAN Is and How It’s Deployed

Where are we building data centers? Why? What markets are primed for interconnectivity glory? Which ones are getting left in the dust? We've heard these questions again and again. 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, scored on a scale of 0-100 across nine key categories. This week's guest on TeleGeography Explains the Internet is our resident data center expert Jon Hjembo. He walks us through how (and why!) 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. From This Episode: Episode 603 | What Network Managers Should Know About AI and Machine LearningEpisode 308 | Data Centers and Digital TransformationTeleGeography Literally Explains Data CentersJon Hjembo at PTC 2024About the Data Center Research ServiceQuarterly Market Connectivity Scores

We're back on the AI beat, specifically looking at how it can support corporate network automation. Per usual, we had a little help. Our guest today is Jamie Pugh, CTO at Globalgig. Jamie joined the show not only to ponder all things automation but also to discuss enterprise network orchestration in the era of an increasingly complex WAN.

It's 2024. We obviously had to do an AI episode of the pod. And for that, we welcome our guest Michael Wynston, Director of Network & Security Architecture at Fiserv. Michael is the first esteemed member of TeleGeography Explains the Internet's four-timers club. Indeed, as I'm sure you've guessed, he's back on the show for the fourth time. And this time around he's here to help us better understand how AI is developing as a network management tool.