Explore every episode of the podcast TeleGeography Explains the Internet
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 614: An FCC Commissioner Explains Spectrum Allocation and Broadband Expansion | 05 Jun 2025 | 01:07:46 | |
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.
| |||
| 613: Automate or Bust | 17 Apr 2025 | 01:00:38 | |
We welcome Michael Martin, formerly a global network and security architect at McKinsey. 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 | |||
| 604: Who Orchestrates the Orchestrators? | 07 Nov 2024 | 00:42:16 | |
We're back on the AI beat, specifically looking at how it can support corporate network automation. 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.
| |||
| 603: What Network Managers Should Know About AI and Machine Learning | 31 Oct 2024 | 00:55:02 | |
We had to do an AI episode of the pod. For that, we welcome Michael Wynston, Director of Network and Security Architecture at Fiserv. He's here to help us understand how AI is developing as a network management tool.
| |||
| 602: What to Know About Direct-to-Device Satellite Communications | 24 Oct 2024 | 00:33:21 | |
For our next episode, 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.
| |||
| 601: The History of U.S. Telecom Policy (in Under 60 Minutes) | 17 Oct 2024 | 00:50:33 | |
TeleGeography Explains the Internet examines U.S. telecom law. Greg is joined by Jeff Long, a private practice attorney with broad experience in the data center and telecom industry.
| |||
| TeleGeography Literally Explains the WAN | 07 Mar 2024 | 00:36:47 | |
Over the past five weeks, we've endeavored to explain precisely how data moves around the world, covering:
Today, we answer our final, lingering question: What is a WAN? Brianna Boudreau, TeleGeography's current SD-WAN guru, joins us to explain.
| |||
| TeleGeography Literally Explains the Cloud | 29 Feb 2024 | 00:53:36 | |
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. 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
| |||
| TeleGeography Literally Explains Data Centers | 22 Feb 2024 | 00:39:28 | |
How and where do networks meet and exchange traffic with each other? How do they access their destinations? 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
| |||
| TeleGeography Literally Explains Transport Networks | 15 Feb 2024 | 01:10:38 | |
We explore the physical transport networks behind this seemingly invisible, omnipresent information superhighway. And we get a little help from TeleGeography's own Paul Brodsky, Peter Wood, and Lane Burdette. 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
| |||
| TeleGeography Literally Explains the Internet | 08 Feb 2024 | 00:31:42 | |
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 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
| |||
| 511: Wi-Fi 6 Afraid of 7? | 23 Jan 2024 | 00:48:52 | |
Drawing upon his vast expertise in the Wi-Fi space, Tiago Rodrigues, President and CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), joins us in defining the key issues in the wireless LAN. This episode considers Wi-Fi 6, 6E, and 7 developments, OpenRoaming™ that allows seamless connection across different Wi-Fi networks, and Wi-Fi’s role in emerging solutions like NaaS. We also discuss the digital divide and how to best use the limited resource of spectrum to ensure connectivity in our increasingly digital world.
| |||
| 612: Lightyear Considers the State of Connectivity | 20 Mar 2025 | 00:54:45 | |
Dennis Thankachan, Co-Founder and CEO of Lightyear (https://lightyear.ai/), is back on the pod. 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 | |||
| 510: Head in the Cloud, Toes at the Edge | 21 Nov 2023 | 00:49:59 | |
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.
| |||
| 509: Why 4G Is Still Relevant for Enterprise Connectivity | 07 Nov 2023 | 00:47:19 | |
We welcome SmartCIC CEO Toby Forman to the show. Toby has 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 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
| |||
| 508: How Geography Influences Network Security | 31 Oct 2023 | 00:46:18 | |
Today’s 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 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?
| |||
| 507: How Do Targeted Ads Work? Is My Phone Listening In? | 17 Oct 2023 | 00:46:16 | |
We're asking the big questions about mobile advertising. Luckily, Ross Flynn of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum is with us to explain. 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?
| |||
| 506: Born in the (US)NUA: LIVE from Ohio! | 10 Oct 2023 | 01:05:27 | |
In August, we joined a meeting of the OH Network User Group at the BrewDog hotel and brewery in Columbus, Ohio. (If you're unfamiliar with the Network User Association, they're worth checking out.) 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.
| |||
| 505: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Super Cloud | 03 Oct 2023 | 00:55:19 | |
We're thrilled to welcome William Collins, Principal Cloud Architect at Alkira, to the pod. 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.
| |||
| 504: How NaaS Relates to SDN and Automation | 26 Sep 2023 | 00:57:45 | |
Telecom industry veteran Mark Daley, Epsilon Telecommunications Director of Digital Strategy and Business Development, joins us on the pod. After spending nearly a decade directly involved with SDN and NaaS at Epsilon, Mark is the perfect guest to discuss how NaaS is unfolding in the market. 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.
| |||
| 503: The Total Transformation of Latin American Telecom | 19 Sep 2023 | 00:53:58 | |
Luis Fiallo has been in the telecom industry for over 25 years. For the majority of that time, he has been at China Telecom Americas, witnessing firsthand the many changes happening in the Latin American telecom market. 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.
| |||
| 502: Why Telecom Service Providers Need To Automate | 12 Sep 2023 | 00:54:22 | |
We welcome Stan Hubbard, Principal Analyst at MEF, to the show. Stan recently authored a State of the Industry Report for MEF; we wanted to have him on to discuss his findings and see where the telecom industry is at with adopting new technologies. 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/
| |||
| 501: Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype? | 05 Sep 2023 | 00:58:47 | |
Dennis Thankachan, Co-Founder and CEO at Lightyear, joins us on the pod. Dennis is uniquely positioned to see how enterprises are sourcing networks. This episode covers 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 frequently mentioned WAN trends and technologies.
| |||
| 611: The Podcast Goes Dark! (Dark Fiber, That is) | 06 Feb 2025 | 00:50:20 | |
We haven't been getting enough fiber here at TeleGeography Explains the Internet, but we're about to change that. We welcome Todd Chapman, a veteran in fiber development. Todd walks us through the ins and outs of Layer 0 of the physical infrastructure underlying data transmission.
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 | |||
| 425: Surveying the WANscape | 25 Apr 2023 | 00:47:27 | |
Season 4 ends on a high note with Junior Research Analyst Mei Harrison’s podcast debut. 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.
| |||
| 424: What Happens to Cables When The Earth Moves Under Our Feet? | 18 Apr 2023 | 00:49:59 | |
How are submarine cables impacted by tectonic shifts beneath the seafloor? 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.
| |||
| 423: Staying a Step Ahead of Mobile Fraudsters | 11 Apr 2023 | 00:54:30 | |
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.
| |||
| 422: AI Meets The Corporate Network | 04 Apr 2023 | 00:48:14 | |
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.
| |||
| 421: What Makes a WAN Truly Secure? | 28 Mar 2023 | 00:41:43 | |
Aryaka’s Chief Product Officer Renuka Nadkarni visits the podcast. We discuss how Aryaka approaches the WAN across different services like network, WAN optimization, SD-WAN, and security. We also chat about the state of the modern WAN, the forces that have changed it, and how those changes impact how one should think about security. With an extensive background in security, Renuka has a clear and interesting take on what a secure WAN looks like.
| |||
| 420: When Carriers Collaborate | 21 Mar 2023 | 00:53:09 | |
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 the podcast. So today we're chatting with the i3forum, a nonprofit industry body focused on "accelerating transformation across the carrier ecosystem." 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.
| |||
| 419: Confessions of a Telecom Investor | 14 Mar 2023 | 01:04:44 | |
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.
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. | |||
| 418: Behind the Seas—Making Our Famous Submarine Cable Map | 09 Mar 2023 | 00:38:23 | |
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.
| |||
| 417: Preparing the Next Generation of Infrastructure Professionals | 21 Feb 2023 | 00:45:06 | |
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.
| |||
| 416: The Death of Voice Has Been Greatly Exaggerated | 07 Feb 2023 | 00:54:50 | |
We brought Senior Research Manager Paul Brodsky on to discuss our most recent voice report, but we couldn’t help getting into much 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.
| |||
| 610: What You Need to Know About Network as a Service in 2025 | 30 Jan 2025 | 00:49:32 | |
Our next guest is Fahim Sabir, Director of Digital Solutions at Colt. 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.
| |||
| 415: Unpacking Telecom Predictions of the Past | 31 Jan 2023 | 00:46:49 | |
It's one thing to make predictions, but it's another to assess how those predictions turned out. 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.
| |||
| 414: SASE and Secure | 24 Jan 2023 | 00:48:35 | |
This week we welcome Jeremiah Ginn, Software Defined Cybersecurity Evangelist at AT&T and author of Diving into SASE. 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.
| |||
| 413: A Brief History of Networking as a Service | 17 Jan 2023 | 00:43:17 | |
This week's guest on TeleGeography Explains the Internet has a deep history in networking. 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.
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: | |||
| Bonus Episode: The WAN in 2022 | 01 Jan 2023 | 00:14:01 | |
Host and Senior Manager of Enterprise Research Greg Bryan broke out the data for this bonus New Year's episode. Fans of our annual WAN Manager Survey will enjoy seeing our 2022 results. We've also got intel on NaaS, SASE, MPLS, and all the other acronyms that mattered to the WAN world in 2022. We're looking forward to exploring the global business of connectivity with you in the year ahead. Cheers to that.
| |||
| 411: 2022 in Review (Part 2) | 27 Dec 2022 | 00:45:39 | |
We're looking back at all things telecom in 2022. And we're doing it the best way we know how: rounding up our analysts and inviting them to discuss significant findings in their research areas. 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.
| |||
| 410: 2022 in Review (Part 1) | 20 Dec 2022 | 00:57:35 | |
Greg Bryan kicks off the first of a two-part telecom year in review, welcoming experts Patrick Christian, Rob Schult, and Jon Hjembo to highlight the major trends they saw in their principal research areas. 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.
| |||
| 409: The Digital Divide Episode | 13 Dec 2022 | 01:02:32 | |
James “Jim” Capuano has over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and is the CEO of Horizon, a more than 125-year-old service provider. 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?
| |||
| 408: Orchestrating the Service Lifecycle | 06 Dec 2022 | 00:49:03 | |
MEF CTO Pascal Menezes is back on the pod to discuss what MEF has been up to. 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.
| |||
| 407: Embracing Carrier Service Automation | 29 Nov 2022 | 00:51:14 | |
This week, with the help of Jeremy Villalobos, COO of Orchest (formerly known as GoldConnect) we tackle automation from a carrier perspective. 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.
| |||
| 406: Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality | 22 Nov 2022 | 00:52:44 | |
This week, we're talking about NaaS. We've covered NaaS in various contexts on this show, but this episode focuses on fabric providers and where they're headed. 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.
| |||
| 609: A Telecom Year in Review | 26 Dec 2024 | 01:37:28 | |
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 👇 ⛓️💥 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.
| |||
| 405: Unpacking Network Observability | 15 Nov 2022 | 00:45:39 | |
If you want to review the state of the corporate WAN—in light of digital transformation, the cloud, SD-WAN adoption, and MPLS utilization—there's no one better to talk to than Phil Gervasi, Director of Technical Evangelism at Kentik. 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.)
| |||
| 404: What Role Do Satellites Play in Global Communication? | 18 Oct 2022 | 00:51:38 | |
Let's talk satellites! We have the perfect person to help us out. We're thrilled to welcome Dr. Peter Wood, TeleGeography analyst and resident satellite guy, to the pod. 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.
| |||
| 403: Mobile as Infrastructure in Africa | 11 Oct 2022 | 00:45:46 | |
Our guest today is Waheed Adam, Global Board Director of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum and Executive Chairperson at iTouch Messaging Service. 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.
| |||
| 402: Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge | 04 Oct 2022 | 00:50:39 | |
When we reached out to today's podcast guest—Jim Poole, Vice President of Business Development at Equinix—about being on the show, we asked if he'd be willing to dig into NaaS or edge data centers. 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.
| |||