TeleGeography Explains the Internet

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

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

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.

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.

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

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.