TeleGeography Explains the Internet

Today we welcome Nokia's Paul Unbehagen to the pod. 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. From This Episode The price of managed cloud servicesX celebrates 60% savings from cloud exitRead @XEng postEpisode 509 | Why 4G Is Still Relevant for Enterprise ConnectivityEpisode 508 | How Geography Influences Network SecurityEpisode 505 | It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Super CloudEpisode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge

This week on TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we welcome SmartCIC CEO Toby Forman to the show. Toby comes to us with a global perspective on the development of fixed wireless access (FWA) and its potential as a disruptive technology in the enterprise connectivity space. 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 around the world. This episode should leave you with a deeper understanding of the development of FWA, but also the ability to evaluate and plan for what is coming next. From This Episode Heatmap of TestsTests By DateLast 24 Hours Drive TestingEpisode 508 | How Geography Influences Network SecurityEpisode 504 | How NaaS Relates to SDN and AutomationEpisode 219 | NaaS, the Cloud, and the Future of 5G2G and 3G Shutdowns Continue

Today’s TeleGeography Explains the Internet guest comes to the security world with a deep background in cloud and networks. Joe DePalo is Chief Platform Officer at Netskope, and the ideal person to help us understand how and why location matters in network security. We first identify how the network has changed over the past few years, gauging the impact on both 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 the modern issues in network security. Finally, Joe offers a particularly interesting take on a question that comes up often on the podcast—what does it mean to have a WAN in this environment? From This Episode Episode 505 | It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Super CloudEpisode 421 | What Makes a WAN Truly Secure?Episode 415 | Unpacking Telecom Predictions of the PastEpisode 414 | SASE and SecureEpisode 409 | The Digital Divide EpisodeEpisode 309 | How Do You Solve a Problem Like Middle Mile?

Today on TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we're asking the big questions about mobile advertising. Luckily, Ross Flynn of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum is with us to explain, which is exactly what we do on this show. Ross has a background in digital advertising, making him the ideal person to walk us through advertising formulas that pair ads with IPs. 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? From This Episode About the Mobile Ecosystem ForumEpisode 423: Staying a Step Ahead of Mobile FraudstersMobile Calling’s Share of International Traffic Declinesi3forum Tracks COVID-19 Impact on International Voice TrafficMobile Advertising: Preparing for the Big Re-Set

In August we were pumped to join a meeting of the OH Network User Group at the fabulous BrewDog hotel and brewery in Columbus, Ohio. (If you're not familiar with the Network User Association, they're worth checking out.) The Ohio chapter kindly agreed to let host Greg Bryan do a live talk on how enterprise WANs are changing and what the implications of those changes are for network costs. We brought lots of WAN data, fielded tons of questions, and very much enjoyed the networking vibes in Ohio. From This Episode How Common SASE Products Are Being OfferedEpisode 501: Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?Eight Enterprise Products, ExplainedHow the Cost of Network Ownership Can Change Over TimeSD-What? A Quick Explanation of What SD-WAN Is and How It’s DeployedEpisode 425: Surveying the WANscape

We're thrilled to welcome William Collins, Principal Cloud Architect at Alkira, to the pod. We asked William to talk us through 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 talk about supercloud—what it is and what the implications are. Grab your super suit and punch the play button to hear the full discussion. From This Episode Alkira Boosts Global Expansion Efforts for Enterprises with Cloud Exchange Point Presence in ChinaMapping Out Asia’s Cloud Data Center and Connectivity MarketThese Two Regions Account For About 65% of the World’s Cloud Data CentersHow Common SASE Products Are Being OfferedCloud Infrastructure MapCloud and WAN Research Service

The newest member of the TeleGeography Explains the Internet club is telecom industry veteran Mark Daley, Epsilon Telecommunications Director of Digital Strategy and Business Development. After spending nearly a decade directly involved with SDN and NaaS at Epsilon Telecommunications, Mark is the perfect guest to help us talk through how NaaS is unfolding in the market. The pod starts 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. (Be sure to write that down.) Later, we talk about the history of Epsilon Telecommunications and how its mission became integrated into an incumbent provider. From This Episode Episode 502 | Why Telecom Service Providers Need To AutomateEpisode 501 | Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?Episode 425 | Surveying the WANscapeEpisode 406 | Unraveling the Fabric Providers of RealityEpisode 313 | The Need for NaaSEpisode 219 | NaaS, the Cloud, and the Future of 5G

Luis Fiallo has been in the telecom industry for over 25 years. And for the majority of that time, he has been at China Telecom Americas, witnessing the many changes happening in the Latin American telecom market firsthand. 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 the idea of directly connecting developing markets around the world, 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. From This Episode Episode 422 | AI Meets The Corporate NetworkEpisode 404 | What Role Do Satellites Play in Global Communication?Episode 310 | How Global Events Impact the InternetGet Acquainted With Our Cloud Infrastructure Map5G Frequency Frenzy: A Guide to Latin America’s Upcoming Spectrum AuctionsLatin American Pricing Takeaways From ITWHas Geopolitical Conflict Between China and the U.S. Caused Their Networks to Disconnect?

In both 2021 and 2022, MEF CTO Pascal Menezes joined us on TeleGeography Explains the Internet to talk through the work MEF is doing on standardizing the enterprise network. This season, we welcome a new face from the same team, Stan Hubbard, Principal Analyst at MEF. Stan recently authored a State of the Industry Report for MEF, so we wanted to have him on to discuss his findings and see where the telecom industry is at with adopting new technologies. Stan first explains the drivers in the market 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 talk about his report and get details on the state of adoption of automation 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. You can hear about more topics like this at MEF's Global NaaS Event, happening October 2-4, 2023 in Dallas. From This Episode Global NaaS Event | Register Here (Free for Enterprises)Download the MEF State of the Industry ReportEpisode 408 | Orchestrating the Service LifecycleEpisode 202 | Would an SD-WAN by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?Episode 406 | Unraveling the Fabric Providers of RealityEpisode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge

Season 5 of TeleGeography Explains the Internet is here, and we're kicking things off with Dennis Thankachan, Co-Founder and CEO at Lightyear. Because Dennis is in the unique position of being able to see how enterprises are sourcing networks, we were excited to talk to him about some recent WAN trends. This episode gets into the shift to off-premises data centers, hybrid and remote work, the drive to cut network costs through changing technologies, right-sizing networks, and more. We also touch on Dennis’ skepticism about some frequently mentioned WAN trends and technologies. From This Episode Episode 425 | Surveying the WANscapeEpisode 422 | AI Meets The Corporate NetworkEpisode 413 | A Brief History of Networking as a ServiceReal Talk: Are WAN Managers Adopting NaaS?Bonus Episode | The WAN in 2022

This week, Season 4 of TeleGeography Explains the Internet ends on a high note with Junior Research Analyst Mei Harrison’s podcast debut. As one half of our enterprise team two-man band, Mei is the perfect person to help me talk through results from our recently published WAN Manager Survey. We highlight the key trends in multinational corporate networks around the world, covering MPLS vs. DIA use in the underlay, SD-WAN adoption, cloud connectivity, NaaS, and more. Listen in for a comprehensive review of what is afoot in the world of WANs—plus a little preview of what we’re looking into next. From This Episode Download the WAN Manager Survey Executive SummaryDownload Historical WAN Manager Survey ResultsReal Talk: Are WAN Managers Adopting NaaS?Bonus Episode | The WAN in 2022Episode 307 | Insights from the 2021 WAN Manager SurveyAbout TeleGeography’s Cloud and WAN Infrastructure

How are submarine cables impacted by tectonic shifts beneath the seafloor? This week's guests on TeleGeography Explains the Internet 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. From This Episode: Episode 310: How Global Events Impact the InternetExplore our 2023 Submarine Cable MapCutting off Europe? A Look at How the Continent Connects to the WorldGloomy Economic Indicators… Scary Future for the Subsea Cable Industry?New Cables Are Coming to AfricaSubmarine Cable FAQs

Our guest today is Dario Betti, CEO of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum. 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. From This Episode: 2G and 3G Shutdowns ContinueTracking 5G Deployments in the Middle East and AfricaMobile Calling’s Share of International Traffic Declinesi3forum Tracks COVID-19 Impact on International Voice TrafficUkrainian Telcos: Communicating Through the Conflict

Today’s episode of TeleGeography Explains the Internet is about artificial intelligence. And for that we welcome Kannan Kothandaraman, Co-Founder and CEO at Selector AI. 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.

I've always known Aryaka Networks as service provider with a different approach to enterprise networks—they don’t neatly fit into categories like facilities-based carrier or managed service provider. When Aryaka’s Chief Product Officer Renuka Nadkarni agreed to join me on TeleGeography Explains the Internet, I quickly had a list of questions mapped about their place in the WAN landscape. In this episode, we cover how Aryaka approaches the WAN across different services like network, WAN optimization, SD-WAN, and security. We also get a chance to chat about the state of the modern WAN, the forces that have changed it, and how those changes impact the way one should think about security. With an extensive background in security, Renuka has a clear and interesting take on what a secure WAN truly is. From This Episode: Episode 414: SASE and SecureEpisode 312: SASE Isn't Revolutionary. It's Evolutionary.Episode 216: To The Edge and BackEpisode 202: Safe for WANsThe WAN in 2022SD-WAN's Shift to SecurityExplore the Hypothetical Network Series

Wanna look at some cool voice data? The recent expansion of the i3forum's Insights tool has quite a bit of that. I've been itching to talk about it on TeleGeography Explains the Internet. So today we're chatting with the i3forum, a nonprofit industry body focused on "accelerating transformation across the carrier ecosystem." Put another way: this consortium of carriers routinely collaborates on solving some of the biggest challenges facing their industry. And they have a really innovative way of sharing data among participants, to the benefit of all involved. (Non-members can participate in this data-sharing, too. More of than in our discussion.) 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. From This Episode: Episode 416: The Death of Voice Has Been Greatly ExaggeratedVoice Traffic: I've Fallen and I Can't Get UpAbout i3forum InsightsBehind the Scenes of i3forum Insights, the Industry's New Database for Global Voice ServicesWhat is i3forum Insights and How Does it Work?

Meet Aaron Chan, Founder and Managing Partner at Recurve Capital. As an investor in the “technology media and telecom” space—or “TMT” as they say in finance circles—Aaron has something of an outside perspective. 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. From This Episode: Keep Up With Telecom TrendsEpisode 415: Unpacking Telecom Predictions of the PastLearn More About 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.

There's a good chance that you first heard about TeleGeography through one of our maps. 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. From This Episode: Explore the Interactive Submarine Cable MapCheck out the printed 2023 Submarine Cable MapVisit Our Map StoreDesign a Custom MapSponsor a MapDownload the Mapping Communication E-bookHear From Other TeleGeography Experts

Rohan Singh knew his future was in networking and communication when he saw his first network diagram at around 12 years old. That's probably why he feels like he's been involved in networking for most of his life. 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. From This Episode: What We Learned From Enterprise Networking in 2022Upskilling Network Architects for the Automated NetworkNailing Down Network-as-a-ServiceKey Findings From Our Latest WAN Market Size ReportLearn more about the WAN Manager SurveyExplore the WAN Forum

Why has it taken us this long to welcome Senior Research Manager Paul Brodsky—an A+ podcast guest—to TeleGeography Explains the Internet? We brought Paul on to discuss our most recent voice report, but we couldn’t help getting into a whole lot more. We talk about the history of telecom and how voice and internet networks compare—and how that is impacting voice traffic and revenue. 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. From This Episode: Voice Traffic: I've Fallen and I Can't Get UpAbout the TeleGeography Report and DatabaseDownload the New Executive SummaryHear From Other TeleGeography Experts