TeleGeography Explains the Internet
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Explore the global business of connectivity with TeleGeography’s Greg Bryan. (With lots of cameos from all of our TeleGeography experts as we get into the ins and outs of the way the world connects.)
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2 days ago
504: How NaaS Relates to SDN and Automation
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 Automate
* Episode 501 | Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?
* Episode 425 | Surveying the WANscape
* Episode 406 | Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality
* Episode 313 | The Need for NaaS
* Episode 219 | NaaS, the Cloud, and the Future of 5G
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Sep 19, 2023
503: The Total Transformation of Latin American Telecom
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 Network
* Episode 404 | What Role Do Satellites Play in Global Communication?
* Episode 310 | How Global Events Impact the Internet
* Get Acquainted With Our Cloud Infrastructure Map
* 5G Frequency Frenzy: A Guide to Latin America’s Upcoming Spectrum Auctions
* Latin American Pricing Takeaways From ITW
* Has Geopolitical Conflict Between China and the U.S. Caused Their Networks to Disconnect?
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Sep 12, 2023
502: Why Telecom Service Providers Need To Automate
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 Report
* Episode 408 | Orchestrating the Service Lifecycle
* Episode 202 | Would an SD-WAN by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?
* Episode 406 | Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality
* Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge
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Sep 5, 2023
501: Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?
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 WANscape
* Episode 422 | AI Meets The Corporate Network
* Episode 413 | A Brief History of Networking as a Service
* Real Talk: Are WAN Managers Adopting NaaS?
* Bonus Episode | The WAN in 2022
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Apr 25, 2023
425: Surveying the WANscape
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 Summary
* Download Historical WAN Manager Survey Results
* Real Talk: Are WAN Managers Adopting NaaS?
* Bonus Episode | The WAN in 2022
* Episode 307 | Insights from the 2021 WAN Manager Survey
* About TeleGeography’s Cloud and WAN Infrastructure
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Apr 18, 2023
424: What Happens to Cables When The Earth Moves Under Our Feet?
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 Internet
* Explore our 2023 Submarine Cable Map
* Cutting off Europe? A Look at How the Continent Connects to the World
* Gloomy Economic Indicators… Scary Future for the Subsea Cable Industry?
* New Cables Are Coming to Africa
* Submarine Cable FAQs
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Apr 11, 2023
423: Staying a Step Ahead of Mobile Fraudsters
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 Continue
* Tracking 5G Deployments in the Middle East and Africa
* Mobile Calling’s Share of International Traffic Declines
* i3forum Tracks COVID-19 Impact on International Voice Traffic
* Ukrainian Telcos: Communicating Through the Conflict
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Apr 4, 2023
422: AI Meets The Corporate Network
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.
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Mar 28, 2023
421: What Makes a WAN Truly Secure?
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 Secure
* Episode 312: SASE Isn't Revolutionary. It's Evolutionary.
* Episode 216: To The Edge and Back
* Episode 202: Safe for WANs
* The WAN in 2022
* SD-WAN's Shift to Security
* Explore the Hypothetical Network Series
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Mar 21, 2023
420: When Carriers Collaborate
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 Exaggerated
* Voice Traffic: I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up
* About i3forum Insights
* Behind the Scenes of i3forum Insights, the Industry's New Database for Global Voice Services
* What is i3forum Insights and How Does it Work?
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Mar 14, 2023
419: Confessions of a Telecom Investor
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 Trends
* Episode 415: Unpacking Telecom Predictions of the Past
* Learn 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.
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Mar 9, 2023
418: Behind the Seas—Making Our Famous Submarine Cable Map
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 Episo…
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Feb 21, 2023
417: Preparing the Next Generation of Infrastructure Professionals
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 2022
* Upskilling Network Architects for the Automated Network
* Nailin…
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Feb 7, 2023
416: The Death of Voice Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
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 Up
* About the TeleGeography Report and Database
* Download the New Executive Summary
* Hear From Other TeleGeography Experts
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Jan 31, 2023
415: Unpacking Telecom Predictions of the Past
It's one thing to make predictions. It's another to go back and assess how those predictions shook out.
One month into 2023, Mattias Fridström, Chief Evangelist at Arelion, very kindly agreed to scrutinize his 2022 forecast with us.
As you will 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 at TeleGeography Explains the Internet to wade through those 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 is…
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Jan 24, 2023
414: SASE and Secure
This week on TeleGeography Explains the Internet 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 host Greg Bryan 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.
From This Episode:
* Diving into SASE: Book Review
* The WAN in 2022
* Episode 312: SASE Isn't Revolutionary. It's Evolutionary.
* Episode 216: To The Edge and Back
* Episode 202: Safe for WANs
* SD-WAN's Shift to Security
* Explore the Hypothetical Network Ser…
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Jan 17, 2023
413: A Brief History of Networking as a Service
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:
* The WAN in 2022
* Episode 406 | Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality
* Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opp…
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Jan 1, 2023
Bonus Episode: The WAN in 2022
You thought we were going to do a major end-of-year review of telecom trends and leave out all things WAN? No, no. Not on our watch.
Host and Senior Manager of Enterprise Research Greg Bryan broke out the data for this bonus New Years episode of TeleGeography Explains the Internet.
Fans of our annual WAN Manager Survey will enjoy getting a peek at 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.
Happy 2023, listeners. We're looking forward to exploring the global business of connectivity with you in the year ahead. Cheers to that.
From This Episode:
* Episode 406 | Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality
* Episode 405 | Unpacking Network Observability
* Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge
* Episode 315 | How Enterprises Are Implementing NaaS (And Leaving MPLS)
* Episode 312 | SASE Isn't Revolutionary. It's Evolutionary.
* Key Findings From Our Latest WAN Market Size…
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Dec 27, 2022
411: 2022 in Review (Part 2)
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 major findings in their areas of research on TeleGeography Explains the Internet.
If you want to dive in from the very beginning, you can listen to part one over here. And if you're ready for more, keep scrolling.
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 we thrilled to have TeleGeography's own Alan Mauldin, Brianna Boudreau, and Tim Stronge in the hot seat.
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. The perfect way to toast the New Year, if we do say so.
From This Episode:
* Episode 404 | What Role Do Satellites Play in Global Communication?
* Episode 312 | SASE Isn't Revolutionary. It's Evolution…
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Dec 20, 2022
410: 2022 in Review (Part 1)
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 lots more.
We talk inflation, we talk energy, we talk geography. And we're only just getting started.
From This Episode:
* Episode 301 | Wholesale Pricing and the WAN
* Episode 205 | Putting The Data Center Geography in TeleGeography
* Episode 308 | Data Centers and Digital Transformation
* Explore the Hypothetical Network Blog Series
* Price Erosion Remains the Universal Norm
* A 2022 Update on African Network Geography
* A 2022 Update on Interconnection Geography
* The Data Center Sector: An Uncertain Juncture
* Content Providers Binge on Global Bandwidth
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Dec 13, 2022
409: The Digital Divide Episode
James “Jim” Capuano has logged over 30 years in the telecommunications industry. And he's the CEO of Horizon, a service provider with more than 125 years of telecommunications experience.
We recently asked Jim to share some of his knowledge on TeleGeography Explains the Internet. 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?
From This Episode:
* TeleGeography Deep Dives: Internet Middle Mile
* How Providers Are Approaching the Middle Mile in 2022
* Episode 309 | How Do You Solve a Problem Like Middle Mile?
* Episode 211 | I'm Just the Middle Mile Man
* Episode 203 | Stuck in the Middle Mile With You
* About our Internet Middle Mile research
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Dec 6, 2022
408: Orchestrating the Service Lifecycle
Last year, MEF CTO Pascal Menezes walked us through the work MEF is doing on standardizing the enterprise network.
Nearly a year and a half later, Pascal is back on the pod to discuss what MEF has been doing since then.
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.
This episode of TeleGeography Explains the Internet ties in perfectly with last week's, where Orchest's Jeremy Villalobos—who I actually met at a MEF event—helped us tackle why automation is so important from a carrier perspective.
From This Episode:
* Episode 202 | Would an SD-WAN by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?
* Episode 407 | Embracing Carrier Service Automation
* Episode 305 | Upskilling Network Architects for the Automated Network
* Download the SD-WAN Guide: 2022 Edition
* Explore the Hypothetical Network Blog Series
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Nov 29, 2022
407: Embracing Carrier Service Automation
This week, with the help of Jeremy Villalobos, COO of Orchest (formerly known as GoldConnect), TeleGeography Explains the Internet tackles 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.
From This Episode:
* Episode 305 | Upskilling Network Architects for the Automated Network
* Download the new WAN Market Size Report Executive Summary
* Explore the Hypothetical Network Blog Series
* Take the 2022 WAN Manager Survey
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Nov 22, 2022
406: Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality
This week, we're talking about NaaS.
We've covered NaaS in various contexts on TeleGeography Explains the Internet, 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.
From This Episode:
* Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge
* Episode 313 | The Need for NaaS
* Episode 219 | NaaS, the Cloud, and the Future of 5G
* Episode 207 | SmartNICs, Explained
* Episode 105 | The WAN and Working From Home
* Considering Cloud Co…
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Nov 15, 2022
405: Unpacking Network Observability
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.)
From This Episode:
* Episode 315 | How Enterprises Are Implementing NaaS (And Leaving MPLS)
* SD-WAN's Shift to Security
* Download the new WAN Market Size Report Executive Summary
* Explore the Hypothetical Network Blog Series
* Take the 2022 WAN Manager Survey
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Oct 18, 2022
404: What Role Do Satellites Play in Global Communication?
Let's do it. Let's talk satellites!
And 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 bit of a resurgence. And maybe even the potential to disrupt the wireline market? Listen to our conversation to find out.
It was also a great opportunity to get Alan Mauldin on the line to talk more about his latest blog post, which is all too relevant to our satellite chat.
From This Episode:
* Cutting off Europe? A Look at How the Continent Connects to the World
* How LEO Satellite Connectivity Might Change Enterprise Networks
* How Will Broadband Prices Fare Against a Satellite Boom?
* The International Satellite Broadband Battle Intensifies
* Will New Satellites End the Dominance of Submarine Cables?
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Oct 11, 2022
403: Mobile as Infrastructure in Africa
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 telecoms.
From this Episode:
* 2022 Africa Telecommunications Map
* A 2022 Update on African Network Geography
* Africa’s Mobile Sector: Still Room for Growth
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Oct 4, 2022
402: Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge
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.
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Sep 27, 2022
401: Simply Illuminating
To kick off Season 4, we're going deep into the supply chain as Greg welcomes Dr. Michael Lebby, CEO of Lightwave Logic.
The pair get into making a better mousetrap for the light-switching world. Listen up if you're into the technology that makes optical transport possible—and specifically how this technology fits into the telecom transport ecosystem.
Fasten your seatbelts. This episode has new tech talk, optical transport pricing intel, a big Shannon Limit shout-out, and lots more.
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Sep 23, 2022
Introducing TeleGeography Explains the Internet
Get ready. There's a new season of the WAN Manager Podcast coming to your feeds next week.
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.
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Jun 21, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 316: What’s Wireless Got to Do With It?
Anyone in the WAN business—from the carrier or end-user side—knows that local access can present some of the biggest challenges in corporate networks.
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 WAN Manager Podcast. The pair chat about 5G as a local access game-changer, get into some use cases, and look to the future of wireless in the WAN.
From This Episode
* Episode 306 | Integrating Wireless into the WAN
* Episode 219 | NaaS, the Cloud, and the Future of 5G
* Over 100 5G Network Launches in 2020
* Wireless Broadband in WAN
* WAN Managers Weigh Greatest Challenges o…
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Jun 14, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 315: How Enterprises Are Implementing NaaS (And Leaving MPLS)
While NaaS and the middle mile are fairly new concepts, they're not new to the WAN Manager Podcast.
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.
You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll ponder the post-MPLS SD-WAN network and the future of the WAN business.
From This Episode
* Episode 313 | The Need for NaaS
* Episode 219 | NaaS, the Cloud, and the Future of 5G
* Episode 203 | Stuck in the Middle Mile With You
* What is Internet Middle Mile?
* SD-WAN's Shift to Security
* TeleGeography's Cloud Infrastructure Map
* About our WAN Cost Benchmark
* About our WAN Geography Benchmark
* Explore the WAN Forum
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Jun 7, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 314: Untying the Gordian Knot, Unlocking Your Future Network
The TeleGeography team began benchmarking networks almost a decade ago. (Time flies when you're having fun!)
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…
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May 3, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 313: Very NaaS!
Our readers likely know about NaaS: cloud-based network architecture that allows a WAN manager to stitch together different enterprise network components in a self-service, automated way.
At the WAN Manager Podcast, 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).
From This Episode
* About Our Sponsor: The WAN Summit
* Considering Cloud Connectivity Providers
* Episode 219 | NaaS, th…
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Apr 19, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 312: SASE Isn’t Revolutionary. It’s Evolutionary.
Here's a hot take: the networking hype cycle has moved on from SD-WAN in favor of SASE and now SSE.
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 WAN Manager Podcast.
From This Episode
* E-book: Learn how to secure the WAN with SASE
* Managed SASE services: Does one size fit all?
* The Home Office Isn't Going Away. What Does That Mean for WAN Managers?
* Here's How You Should Remember the 2021 WAN
* Episode 216: To The Edge and Back
* Episode 202: Safe for WANs
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* About the WAN Cost Benchmark
* Explore the WAN Forum
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Apr 12, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 311: Running a Network for a Healthcare Company. During a Pandemic.
Two years ago—when the world shut down—WAN managers had to scramble to accommodate massive changes. Offices transitioned to remote work and navigated brand new traffic patterns.
Our guest on this week's WAN Manager Podcast 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 WAN Manager 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.
From This Episode
* About Our Sponsor: The WAN Summit
* The Home Office Isn't Going Away. What Does That Mean for WAN Managers?
* Get the Slides: Adjusting to Your New Hybrid Workforce
* Five Network Managers, Five Netw…
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Apr 5, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 310: How Global Events Impact the Internet
We've discussed the ways in which the WAN is moving away from private networks and MPLS in favor of reliance on the public internet. Not to mention the costs and benefits of that evolution.
Although it's certainly always been the case that WAN managers must stay on top of internet performance and outages, this is increasingly crucial in the internet-first WAN era in which we find ourselves.
To get into the ways in which 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 WAN Manager Podcast.
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.
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 pair had much to talk about.
From This Episode
* What to Know A…
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Mar 22, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 309: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Middle Mile?
Coevolve CTO Ciaran Roche is back on the pod. And he's in the hot seat to discuss how middle mile solutions are selected to solve real-world enterprise WAN issues.
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.
From This Episode
* What is Internet Middle Mile?
* Episode 211: I'm Just the Middle Mile Man
* Episode 203: Stuck in the Middle Mile With You
* Watch Our Panel Discussion on Middle Mile
* TeleGeography's Cloud Infrastructure Map
* How to Connect to the Cloud
* About t…
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Mar 8, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 308: Data Centers and Digital Transformation
When it comes to the cloud and digital transformation of the enterprise, it's always useful to come back to the fact that physical geography matters to our digital world.
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.
From This Episode
* Where Is the Cloud Moving in 2022 and Beyond?
* 2021 WAN in Review
* Understanding the Multicloud-Verse of Madness
* Corporate Data Center Geography, Explained
* Here's How You Should Remember the 2021 WAN
* About the…
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Feb 22, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 307: The WAN Managers Have Spoken (For Now)
We've crunched the numbers from our survey of WAN managers in 2021 and our new analysis is ready and waiting.
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.
From This Episode:
* Survey Says: DIA Is Hot on the Heels of MPLS
* 2021 WAN in Review
* Prominence of DIA in the WAN
* Here's How You Should Remember the 2021 WAN
* Traversing the Internet’s Middle Mile
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* Join t…
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Feb 15, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 306: Integrating Wireless into the WAN
One of the earliest and most persistent use cases for SD-WAN has been the ability to utilize alternative connectivity options like internet and fixed wireless. And our WAN Manager Survey data has shown us that, since 2018, MPLS has been losing ground to other wireline alternatives like DIA and broadband.
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.
From This Episode
* NaaS, Cloud, and the Future of 5G
* 2021 WAN in Review
* Will New Satellites End the Dominance of Submarine Cables?
* Wireless Broadband in WAN
* Over 100 5G Network Launches in 2020
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* Discover the WAN Cost Benchmark
* Join the WAN Forum
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Feb 8, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 305: Upskilling Network Architects for the Automated Network
Network automation pops up often on the WAN Manager Podcast.
But—you know what's under-discussed? The HR aspect of upskilling IT workers and/or acquiring the right talent to make this transformation and manage it going forward.
To get into it, Greg welcomes Michael Martin, Senior Expert of Networking and Network Security at McKinsey & Co.
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.
From This Episode
* 2021 WAN in Review
* Nailing Down Network-as-a-Service
* EMEA Carriers Embrace SD-WAN
* Nailing Down Network-as-a-Service
* WAN Managers Consider Zero Trust Security, Face Challenges in Implementation
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* Discover the WAN Cost Benchmark
* Join the WAN Forum
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Jan 25, 2022
WAN Manager Podcast 304: The Multicloud-Verse of Madness
We're going to talk about the cloud. More specifically, cloud outages and how to avoid them and mitigate their impacts.
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.
From This Episode
* About Go Cloud Careers
* What Problem is the Middle Mile Trying to Solve?
* Corporate Data Center Geography, Explained
* Trends in Cloud Infrastructure and Global Networks
* SFW: Safe for WANs
* About TeleGeography's Cloud and WAN Infrastructure Research
* About the WAN Manager Survey…
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Dec 21, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 303: 2021 in Review | Part 2
If you caught last week's special episode of the WAN Manager Podcast, you must be waiting on the edge of your seat for the second installment.
To recap, Greg Bryan and Elizabeth Thorne are keeping up their tradition of decking the halls with an end-of-year WAN review. And since 2021 was such a big year, we couldn't fit everything into just one episode.
To make up 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.
From This Episode:
* Episode 302: 2021 in Review | Part 1
* Traversing the Internet’s Middle Mile
* 2021's SD-WAN Revolution
* Optimizing Hybrid WAN Costs With SD-WAN
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* Explore the WAN Market Size Report
* Discover the WAN Cost Benchmark
* Join the WAN Forum
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Dec 14, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 302: 2021 in Review | Part 1
In this WAN Manager Podcast holiday special, we're shaking the snow globe that is the 2021 WANscape. Greg welcomes back TeleGeography Analyst Elizabeth Thorne to present another year in review.
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.
From This Episode:
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* The Future of Hybrid Work
* 2021's SD-WAN Revolution
* What SD-WAN Features Do WAN Professionals Actually Want?
* Underlay Changes: MPLS vs. DIA Pricing
* Explore the WAN Market Size Report
* Discover the WAN Cost Benchmark
* Join the WAN Forum
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Nov 23, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 301: Wholesale Pricing and the WAN
While a fifteen-year friendship with Greg is not a prerequisite for guests on the pod, it sure makes for good conversation.
To kick off Season 3 of the WAN Manager Podcast, 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).
From This Episode
* Episode 212: Submarine Cables—It’s Not Bitcoin
* The Geography of WAN Pricing
* Underlay Changes: MPLS vs. DIA Pricing
* WAN Pricing Mythbusters
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* Explore the WAN Market Size Report
* Discover the WAN Cost Benchmark
* Join the WAN Forum
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Aug 4, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 220: Would an SD-WAN by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?
As we dig into technical standards and definitions, MEF has come up several times on this show. It was only a matter of time before we put them in the hot seat.
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.
From this Episode:
* Episode 218: The Very Definition of SD-WAN
* Episode 202: SFW (Safe for WANs)
* Episode 101: A Zero Trust State of Mind
* WAN Managers Consider Zero Trust Security, Face Challenges in Implementation
* Search SD-WAN Vendor Profiles in Our Free Downloadable Guide
* More SD-WAN Adoption, More Data on a Changing Marketplace
* WAN Pricing Mythbusters
* Wargaming Your WAN
* Get the WAN Manager Newsletter
* Join the WAN Forum
* About the SD-WAN Research Service
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Jul 12, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 219: NaaS, Cloud, and the Future of 5G
Listeners know that we've covered middle mile and NaaS on this show. And we've touched on the various companies that are emerging around these issues. Today we're getting extra perspective from one of those companies.
Greg welcomes Dave Ward, CEO of PacketFabric, to talk through the bigger picture of how these services are emerging in the enterprise network market.
From This Episode
* 5G Cloud Core: Slice as a Service Isn’t Just for Pizza
* Nailing Down Network-as-a-Service
* For WAN Forum Members: Megaport vs. PacketFabric: Weighing Network Transport Options
* What is Internet Middle Mile
* Trends in Cloud Infrastructure and Global Networks
* SD-WAN Adoption is on the Rise
* Visit the WAN Forum
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Jul 6, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 218: The Very Definition of SD-WAN
When TeleGeography started tracking the SD-WAN market in 2017, we found dozens of vendors with a service they were calling "SD-WAN."
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.
From This Episode
* Four New SD-WAN Findings for 2021
* Search SD-WAN Vendor Profiles in Our Free Downloadable Guide
* WAN Manager Podcast 102: The SD-WAN Marketplace of Ideas
* More SD-WAN Adoption, More Data on a Changing Marketplace
* WAN Pricing Mythbusters
* Wargaming Your WAN
* Get the WAN Manager Newsletter
* About the SD-WAN Research Service
* About the WAN Manager Survey
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Jun 28, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 217: BorgWarner's Big SD-WAN Adventure
Are you like the (approximately) half of our survey respondents who have not yet adopted SD-WAN? Or perhaps you're in the midst of deployment and want to know what to look out for. Or maybe you're working out whether or not to keep MPLS?
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.
From This Episode
* Trends in Cloud Infrastructure and Global Networks
* Four New SD-WAN Findings for 2021
* PageGroup Case Study
* Norsk Hydro Network Case Study
* H&M Network Case Study
* Search SD-WAN Vendor Profiles in Our Free Downloadable Guide
* Five Years of SD-WAN Migration Stories, Five Takeaways
* About the WAN Geography Benchmark
* About the WAN Cost Benchmark
* Explore the WAN Forum
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Jun 21, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 216: To the Edge and Back
Today we're living on the edge!
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.
From This Episode
* Trends in Cloud Infrastructure and Global Networks
* Tour the Data Behind Our Latest Global Internet Map
* How Data Centers Adapted to Disruption in 2020
* Putting The Data Center Geography in TeleGeography
* For WAN Forum Members: Corporate Data Center Geography
* TeleGeography's Cloud Infrastructure Map
* About the WAN Geography Benchmark
* About Cloud and WAN Infrastructure
* About the Data Center Research Service
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Jun 14, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 215: Managing Multinational Network Modifications
It's another case study episode of the WAN Manager Podcast. Today we welcome Ian Calderbank, Enterprise Network Architect at PageGroup, to the hot seat.
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, it sounds like an enviable position to be in as a WAN manager, no? 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.
From This Episode
* Join Our Live Conversation on Cloud and WAN Geography on June 17, 2021
* Four New SD-WAN Findings for 2021
* Norsk Hydro Network Case Study
* H&M Network Case Study
* Search SD-WAN Vendor Profiles in Our Free Downloadable Guide
* Five Years of SD-WAN Migration Stories, Five Takeaways
* About the WAN Geography Benchmark
* About the WAN Cost Benchmark
* Explore the WAN…
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Jun 7, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 214: Citing Our Sources
In this episode, we dig into sourcing. Our listeners know that we often discuss the migration of large enterprises away from one or two global suppliers for a mostly MPLS network to a novel mix of transport types and suppliers. This is especially true due to changing trends in cloud migration, SD-WAN, and security.
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.
From This Episode
Join Us June 17 for an Exploration of Cloud and WAN Geography
Everything You Wanted to Know About Sourcing Internet
For WAN Forum Members: Optimizing Hybrid WAN Costs with SD-WAN
WAN Pricing Mythbusters
Wargaming Your WAN
About the WAN Cost Benchmark…
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Jun 1, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 213: Nailing Down Network-as-a-Service
Our data shows that a majority of enterprises have more than one IaaS provider. For SaaS, that number can be dozens, hundreds, even more. And most have moved the majority of their data centers off corporate premises to some kind of shared facility.
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. You might know him as the co-founder of NYNOG or perhaps you subscribe to his popular weekly internet infrastructure newsletter.
From This Episode
* Join Us June 17 for an Exploration of Cloud and WAN Geography
* For WAN Forum Members: All About Corporate Data Center Geography
* For WAN Forum Members: The…
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May 17, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 212: Submarine Cables—It's Not Bitcoin
We often say that we'll be taking a "deep dive" into an issue at the beginning of our WAN Manager Podcasts. Today we almost mean that literally, as Greg welcomes TeleGeography Research Director Alan Mauldin to talk about submarine cables.
Whether you're joining us from the vendor side or enterprise side, you might want to know why submarine cables—usually thought of as a wholesale telecom issue—are relevant to the corporate WAN.
From This Episode
* The Utopian Future of International Networks
* Submarine Cables to Watch in 2021
* A Massive Global Bandwidth Pricing Update for 2021
* Out With the Old Cables, in With the New
* TeleGeography's Submarine Cable Map
* How to Connect to the Cloud
* About the Data Center Research Service
* About Cloud and WAN Infrastructure
* Explore the WAN Forum
* For WAN Forum Members: Corporate Data Center Geography
* For WAN Forum Members: The Geography of the Cloud
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May 10, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 211: I'm Just the Middle Mile Man
We're going back to the middle. The middle mile, that is.
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.
From This Episode
What is Internet Middle Mile?
Episode 203: Stuck in the Middle Mile With You
Watch Our Panel Discussion on Middle Mile
TeleGeography's Cloud Infrastructure Map
How to Connect to the Cloud
About the WAN Manager Survey
About our Internet Middle Mile research
About Cloud and WAN Infrastructure
Explore the WAN Forum
For WAN Forum Members: Traversing the Internet’s Middle Mile
For WAN Forum Members: What problem is the middle mile trying to solve?
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Apr 27, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 210: MPLS is Dead. Long Live MPLS.
The average enterprise network had MPLS running at 82% of sites in 2018. That fell to just 58% in 2020. About one-third have active backups—and a quarter have passive backups—for their MPLS service.
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?
From This Episode
MPLS Holding on in 2021
SD-WAN Adoption is on the Rise
Four New SD-WAN Findings for 2021
More 2020 WAN Manager Survey Results
About the WAN Manager Survey
Take the WAN Manager Survey
About the WAN Cost Benchmark
Explore the WAN Forum
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Apr 19, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 209: Survey Says
Greg is joined by Analyst Elizabeth Thorne to dig into TeleGeography's latest WAN Manager Survey data.
From SD-WAN adoption stats to network configuration preferences and MPLS trends, the pair covers a lot of ground. If you want to learn more about the survey, those who take it, how we run it, and what the top-level findings are from our latest batch of data, punch that play button.
And if you like information like this, we hope you'll enjoy the WAN Forum, a new content subscription for those who manage wide area networks and maintain IT infrastructure. There's lots more like this over there.
From This Episode
MPLS Holding on in 2021
SD-WAN Adoption is on the Rise
Four New SD-WAN Findings for 2021
WAN Managers Reflect on COVID-19 Challenges
WAN Wargaming Series
About the WAN Manager Survey
Take the WAN Manager Survey
About the WAN Cost Benchmark
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Apr 5, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 208: The Art of Zen and Network Monitoring
Our latest episode of the WAN Manager Podcast is all about network monitoring.
Greg is joined by Kentik Co-founder and CEO Avi Freedman; they discuss the history of network monitoring, where it's going, and get a little philosophical in the process.
Most of the enterprises we interview are running dozens or more SaaS applications. And most of our WAN Manager Survey respondents have moved their data centers off-premises—the majority are connecting to multiple IaaS providers. Further, enterprises are increasingly more likely to piece together networks from multiple vendors.
This means we're seeing a more diverse underlay to orchestrate and manage. And a key to the successful management of such includes visibility into and monitoring of the network.
From This Episode
* About Kentik
* 2021 WAN Manager Survey Results
* WAN Managers Reflect on COVID-19 Challenges
* What is Internet Middle Mile?
* About TeleGeography's Internet Middle Mile Research
* About the WAN Manager S…
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Mar 29, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 207: SmartNICs, Explained
Most of our listeners are probably familiar with network interface cards (NICs, if you're savvy). But what about SmartNICs?
Fiserv's Michael Wynston is back with a full explainer on what SmartNICs are and how they differ from your run-of-the-mill network interface card. Greg and Michael look closer at this emerging technology and why WAN managers and those who serve them might want to take note.
From This Episode
The WAN and Working from Home
WAN Managers Weigh Greatest Challenges of Remote Working
About the WAN Geography Benchmark
About the WAN Cost Benchmark
About the WAN Manager Survey
This episode is brought to you by the WAN Forum. Want a preview of this new content hub for WAN managers? Email us at info@wanforum.com for a first look.
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Mar 8, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 206: A Very Global Network
It's a case study episode!
Greg is joined by Johan Ihse, product owner of global connectivity at H&M. As with previous WAN manager interviews, we'll focus on the story behind the network. This includes learning about H&M's network set-up, the transformations they've undertaken, and some goals for where Johan would like to see their network go.
The duo dips into WAN security, the benefits of having a telecom background in the WAN management space, and the makeup of a network that supports retail locations around the globe.
From This Episode
Four New SD-WAN Findings for 2021
WAN Managers Weigh Greatest Challenges of Remote Working
Five Years of SD-WAN Migration Stories, Five Takeaways
About the WAN Geography Benchmark
About the WAN Cost Benchmark
About the WAN Manager Survey
This episode is brought to you by the WAN Forum. Want a preview of this new content hub for WAN managers? Email us at info@wanforum.com for a first look.
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Mar 1, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 205: Putting The Data Center Geography in TeleGeography
When our new WAN Geography Benchmark got a bit of buzz earlier this year, we thought it'd be cool to invite Principal Analyst Patrick Christian back to the pod to explain how this tool was developed.
It's one of those origin stories where a major customer needed to use several of our databases to run a bespoke analysis of their network. The project sparked a bright idea for how to help other enterprises with their data center decision-making.
In this episode, Greg also asks about the data behind the WAN Geography Benchmark. And Patrick delves into the latest cloud trends from his recent presentation 2021 Trends in Cloud Infrastructure and Global Networks.
From This Episode
Data Center Matchmaking: Finding Your Dream Combo of Connectivity and Cost
How Data Centers Adapted to Disruption in 2020
2021 Global Internet Map Tracks Global Capacity, Traffic, and Cloud Infrastructure
TeleGeography's Cloud Infrastructure Map
About the WAN Geography Benchmark
About Cloud and WAN Infrastru…
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Feb 23, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 204: If I Could Turn Back Time
Greg sits down with Daniel Remarc Bognár—the Head of Network Architecture at Norsk Hydro. In this episode, you'll go behind the scenes of a network and walk through the main considerations and major challenges that went into designing it.
We'll also ask the all-important question: if you could go back and change anything about your network design, what would it be?
From This Episode
Four New SD-WAN Findings for 2021
Search SD-WAN Vendor Profiles in Our Free Downloadable Guide
Five Years of SD-WAN Migration Stories, Five Takeaways
About the WAN Geography Benchmark
About the WAN Cost Benchmark
Join Our Live Conversation on Middle Mile on Thursday, March 4, 2021
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Feb 8, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 203: Stuck in the Middle Mile With You
A new class of network provider has emerged, optimizing connectivity between the office and the cloud. What do they offer? How do they do it? And what’s happening between the core backbone and local access? TeleGeography Principal Analyst Erik Kreifeldt is in the house and Greg is asking the big questions about internet middle mile.
Erik has spent much of the last year developing new research tools dedicated to the mysterious "middle mile" and he comes bearing insight on provider types, the role of cloud connectivity, adoption use cases, and even the origins of the "middle mile" term of art.
From This Episode
Join Our Live Conversation on Middle Mile on Thursday, March 4, 2021
WAN Service and Pricing Trends for 2020
TeleGeography's Cloud Infrastructure Map
How to Connect to the Cloud
About the WAN Manager Survey
About Cloud and WAN Infrastructure
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Feb 1, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 202: SFW (Safe for WANs)
What do you think of when you think of integrating security into the WAN? WAN Dynamics' Jason Gintert sees a changing connectivity landscape that presents no shortage of challenges to security teams.
If you've got WAN security on your mind—or if you want to hear Greg and Jason exchange pre-quarantine concert stories—listen in on this week's episode.
From This Episode
WAN Manager Podcast 101: A Zero Trust State of Mind
WAN Managers Consider Zero Trust Security
About the SD-WAN Research Service
About the WAN Manager Survey
Download the free SD-WAN Vendor Guide
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Jan 25, 2021
WAN Manager Podcast 201: Open Minds, Open Source SD-WAN
What is open source SD-WAN and how is it different from other "open" platforms we've already seen? This was the right question for flexiWAN CEO Amir Zmora, who wanted to get into the SD-WAN space, but only if he could do something totally different.
Greg sat down with Amir to take a closer look at his open-source model.
From This Episode
More SD-WAN Adoption, More Data on a Changing Marketplace
SD-WAN Management Costs, Wargamed
The Dollars and Cents of SD-WAN
About the SD-WAN Research Service
About the WAN Manager Survey
Download the free SD-WAN Vendor Guide
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Dec 17, 2020
The WAN Manager Podcast Holiday Special: New Year, New WAN
We're back with a bonus holiday episode of the WAN Manager Podcast!
In this special pod, Greg invites TeleGeography Analyst Elizabeth Thorne to look back at the WAN in 2020. (And what a year it was.) She comes armed with a preview of data the team collected throughout 2020 for our annual WAN Manager Survey. And the dynamic duo gets to talking about the biggest COVID-19 challenges reported by WAN managers and how 2020 will impact the WAN moving forward.
From This Episode
WAN Managers Reflect on COVID-19 Challenges, Strategies for Moving to Remote Work
WAN Managers Weigh Greatest Challenges of Remote Working
About the WAN Manager Survey
About the WAN Market Size Report
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Jul 16, 2020
The WAN Manager Podcast 006: Cloudy With a Chance of IaaS
In this week's pod, Greg sits down with Principal Analyst Patrick Christian to talk about TeleGeography's latest cloud and WAN infrastructure research. Patrick brings intel on the physical geography and product infrastructure of cloud and multinational corporate network providers.
From This Episode
WAN Service and Pricing Trends for 2020
TeleGeography's Cloud Infrastructure Map
TeleGeography's Interactive Submarine Cable Map
About Cloud and WAN Infrastructure
About the WAN Manager Survey
Take the WAN Manager Survey (And then take this related, even shorter COVID-19 impact survey)
Register for our webinar on SD-WAN and expense management with the team at Calero MDSL
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Jul 5, 2020
The WAN Manager Podcast 005: The WAN and Working from Home
Greg is joined by Fiserve's Michael Wynston for a COVID-19 update on the impact of remote work on WAN managers.
From This Episode
COVID-19 and the Impact of Remote Work on WAN Managers
About the WAN Manager Survey
About the WAN Cost Benchmark
Take the WAN Manager Survey (And then take this related, even shorter COVID-19 impact survey)
Register for our webinar on SD-WAN and expense management with the team at Calero MDSL
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Jun 28, 2020
The WAN Manager Podcast 004: Benchmarkers Anonymous
Greg asks an analyst about all things benchmarking. TeleGeography Senior Analyst and Data Science Manager Mike Bisaha steps in to explain best practices in measuring your wide area network against your goals.
So who benchmarks? How does this make life easier for a WAN manager? What has benchmarking taught us about networks? And how have the goals of WAN managers shifted over the last five to ten years?
From This Episode
* On TEMs: You Can't Benchmark Your Network if You Don't Understand What You're Buying
* Schrodinger's MPLS and Why Predicting the Future is Hard
* Five Years of SD-WAN Migration Stories, Five Takeaways
* WAN Pricing Mythbusters
* Wargaming Your WAN
* Get the WAN Manager Newsletter
* About the WAN Cost Benchmark
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* Take the WAN Manager Survey (And then take this related, even shorter COVID-19 impact survey)
* About Our Sponsor: All About Benchmarking
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Jun 21, 2020
The WAN Manager Podcast 003: Going to the Source
Globalinternet Chief Portfolio Officer Mike Lloyd joins Greg to talk about, naturally, sourcing internet.
They zero in on the biggest challenges in internet sourcing and the most efficient solutions Mike has seen when it comes to buying internet from ISPs around the globe.
Adding internet as part of a hybrid MPLS solution? Adding a second line for SD-WAN or local breakouts for SaaS applications? Ditching MPLS altogether? The modern WAN increasingly includes internet alongside or in place of traditional telco services. And these two have seen it all.
From This Episode
* About Globalinternet
* Schrodinger's MPLS and Why Predicting the Future is Hard
* This is How the Average Enterprise is Managing Their Network in 2020
* WAN Pricing Mythbusters
* Wargaming Your WAN
* Get the WAN Manager Newsletter
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* Take the WAN Manager Survey (And then take this related, even shorter COVID-19 impact survey)
* About Our Sponsor: The WAN Manager Digest
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Jun 12, 2020
The WAN Manager Podcast 002: The SD-WAN Marketplace of Ideas
Here at the WAN Manager Podcast, it's time to ask an analyst. That means we've invited an expert from TeleGeography to discuss the data behind wide area networking.
Today, Senior Research Manager Brianna Boudreau sits down with Greg to explore the SD-WAN marketplace. The pair digs into how the vendor landscape and partner ecosystem has developed over the years.
From This Episode
* More SD-WAN Adoption, More Data on a Changing Marketplace
* WAN Pricing Mythbusters
* Wargaming Your WAN
* Get the WAN Manager Newsletter
* About the SD-WAN Research Service
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* Take the WAN Manager Survey (And then take this related, even shorter COVID-19 impact survey)
* About Our Sponsor: The WAN Manager Digest
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Jun 12, 2020
The WAN Manager Podcast 001: A Zero Trust State of Mind
Welcome to the first episode of the WAN Manager Podcast. In this special summer series, TeleGeography's Greg Bryan dives into all things wide area networking. He's bringing data, he's calling network experts, and he's sharing stories from WAN managers around the globe.
Today he's joined by Lionel Marie, Network Innovation Manager at Schneider Electric. The two waste no time getting into zero trust security, adoption, vendor selection, and the impact of COVID-19 on WAN management.
From This Episode
* WAN Managers Consider Zero Trust Security, Face Challenges in Implementation
* Wargaming Your WAN
* About the WAN Manager Survey
* Take the WAN Manager Survey (And then take this related, even shorter COVID-19 impact survey)
* Get the WAN Manager Newsletter
* Google BeyondCorp Research Papers
* How Google Protects Its Corporate Security Perimeter Without Firewalls
* What Lionel is Reading: Where Wizards Stay Up Late
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Jun 12, 2020
Coming Soon: The WAN Manager Podcast
TeleGeography's Greg Bryan has a microphone, a seemingly endless supply of data, and the phone numbers of some prominent WAN experts.
Join him for this special series on the world of wide area networking. You'll hear from managers on the enterprise side, the experts who serve their networking needs, and TeleGeography analysts armed with Excel sheets and survey data.
Coming June 2020.
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