TeleGeography Explains the Internet

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.

For our next episode of TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we look to the sky. Our guest is Sal Salamone, Managing Editor of Network Computing magazine. Sal joins to discuss the emerging market for direct-to-device satellite communications.

TeleGeography Explains the Internet is back from summer break. We return a little older, a little wiser, and you can bet that we've done the summer reading. To that end, we're starting this season with a classic TeleGeography Explains deep dive. The topic? U.S. telecom law! Greg is joined by Jeff Long, an attorney in private practice with broad experience in both the data center and telecom industry.

Over the past five weeks, we've endeavored to explain precisely how data moves around the world, covering the basics of internet, transport networks, data centers, and the cloud along the way. Today we answer our final, lingering question: What is a WAN? First, let's get definitions out of the way. WAN stands for wide area network, which came out of the term LAN, or local area network. Today's episode will help you brush up on the evolution of the WAN. We'll also hear from Brianna Boudreau, TeleGeography's current SD-WAN guru. From This Episode: What is the Internet?What is a Transport Network?What Are Data Centers?What is the Cloud?Episode 508 | How Geography Influences Network SecurityEpisode 501 | Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?Episode 425 | Surveying the WANscapeEpisode 421 | What Makes a WAN Truly Secure?Download the WAN Manager Survey Executive SummaryWhat SD-WAN Is and How It’s Deployed

You may have heard a popular saying: There is no cloud, only other people’s computers. 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. From This Episode: What is the Internet?What is a Transport Network?What Are Data Centers?Explore our Cloud Infrastructure MapEpisode 510 | Head in the Cloud, Toes at the EdgeEpisode 505 | It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Super CloudEpisode 410 | A Telecom Year in Review, Part 1Episode 304 | Understanding the Multicloud-Verse of Madness

We're back at it with episode three of our five-part podcast special that explains the nuts and bolts of the internet. We haven’t yet covered exactly how and where those networks meet and exchange traffic with each other and access their destinations. So today, it's data center time. Senior Research Manager Jon Hjembo was on hand to help us work through data center types, their defining features, and what happens inside these facilities. We talk about who owns these structures and how their geography informs the way the internet works. From This Episode: What is the Internet?What is a Transport Network?Episode 508 | How Geography Influences Network SecurityEpisode 410 | A Telecom Year in Review, Part 1Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the EdgeEpisode 308 | Data Centers and Digital TransformationWhere in the World Is the Largest Data Center Hub?Does 70% of the World’s Internet Traffic Flow Through Virginia?

Welcome back to our five-part podcast special that literally explains how the internet you know and love works. Last week we covered the most basic question: what is the internet? Today, we tunnel deeper, exploring the physical transport networks behind this seemingly invisible, omnipresent information superhighway. Plus we get a little help from TeleGeography's own Paul Brodsky, Peter Wood, and Lane Burdette for this one From This Episode: What is the Internet?Explore our Submarine Cable MapEpisode 503 | The Total Transformation of Latin American TelecomEpisode 424 | What Happens to Cables When The Earth Moves Under Our Feet?Episode 418 | Behind the Seas: Making Our Famous Submarine Cable MapEpisode 416 | The Death of Voice Has Been Greatly ExaggeratedEpisode 404 | What Role Do Satellites Play in Global Communication?

What is the internet? Simply put, the internet is a network of computers. 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, well, literally explain the internet.