Beyond the Red Sea Blues: West Africa Faces Fresh Cable Faults

As if three cable faults in the Red Sea weren’t enough of a headache, a series of West African cables were damaged on March 14.

The precise location and cause of all of these faults are not known at this time, but let’s look at what we do know.

Explaining the Internet Through the Lifecycle of a YouTube Video

Last week, we wrapped up a five-part podcast special that literally explains how the internet works.

This series describes precisely how data moves around the world, covering the basics of internettransport networksdata centers, the cloud, and WAN along the way.

At the end of each episode, I thought it would be fun to relate what we talked about to a real world example: the lifecycle of a YouTube video.

To paint the full picture, I've compiled each piece of the story here. Keep reading to find out how a video goes from one camera to millions of screens around the world.

Red Sea Roundup: Five Articles Worth Reading

This month, we’ve seen countless headlines swirling about Houthi attacks and submarine cable faults in the Red Sea.

With so much press activity, it can be tough to distinguish fact from rumor. To help you cut through the noise, here are some resources that our team recommends reading/watching.

The Data Center Market Blazes a New Trail

When it comes to the nature of exploration, there are typically a number of underlying forces at play, some positive and some negative.

The “pioneering spirit” could be inspired by the excitement of new opportunities, or by the pressure of existing difficulties.

The data center market happens to be dealing with both of those sentiments right now, with several factors driving it to new places.

What is a WAN?

Welcome back to TeleGeography Explains the Internet. We've reached the finale of our five-part series that makes good on our name, literally explaining the ins and outs of the interwebs.

Over the past five weeks, we've endeavored to explain precisely how data moves around the world, covering the basics of internet, transport networks, data centers, and the cloud along the way.

Today we answer the lingering question: What is a WAN?

What We Know (And Don't) About Multiple Cable Faults in the Red Sea

We recently wrote about how Houthi attacks in the Red Sea are causing headaches for the undersea cable industry.

Since then, the industry has suffered three cable faults in the region.

What is the Cloud?

Welcome back to our five-part podcast special that seeks to demystify the internet. 

Our last episode focused on data centers, but we didn’t get into what happens on the rows and rows of servers you would find in those facilities.

So today we're explaining the cloud.

Introducing the 2024 Africa Telecommunications Map

If you liked last week's Submarine Cable Map reveal, you'll be stoked to hear that we've got another new map up our sleeve.

Meet the 2024 Africa Telecommunications Map.

Flashback Friday: Submarine Cable Repair in the 1980s

If you've read over our Submarine Cable Frequently Asked Questions, you know that cable faults are common. On average, there are over 100 each year.

Of course, as a society heavily dependent on these cables, we've gotten quite good at repairing them.

But what was the repair process like a few decades ago? How were we fixing cables back in the era of the Walkman?

Time for a trip down memory lane.

What Are Data Centers?

We're back at it with episode three of our five-part podcast special that explains the nuts and bolts of the internet.

You've come to the right place if you're looking to understand how all of those cat videos travel from the source to your phone. 

We explained in episode two how the internet is made of transport networks to carry data over (mostly) fiber optic wires distributed around the world. And in the episode before that, we discussed how the internet is a network of networks operated by thousands of mostly private companies.

But we haven’t yet covered exactly how and where those networks meet and exchange traffic with each other and access their destinations.

So today, it's data center time.