Network resilience is a critical concern for every business, regardless of size or industry. While modern equipment is more reliable than ever, the reality is that physical interruptions—from fiber cuts to car accidents—are an unavoidable part of the network landscape.
In a this episode of the TeleGeography Explains the Internet podcast, RETN CEO Tony O’Sullivan discusses network resiliency and how providers can build networks that withstand outages—whether from someone who forgot to call the utility company or an anchor dragging on the seafloor. O'Sullivan emphasizes that a robust network is built not just on fiber, but on a foundation of transparency and smart strategy.
The conversation distills the complex subject of network resiliency into three key considerations for carriers and enterprises alike.
Here are some key takeaways from the conversation.
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Transparency is Necessary for Resilience and Redundancy
In the pursuit of network diversity, customers must demand total transparency from their providers. O'Sullivan stresses that without a provider willing to share the physical locations of fiber routes and disclose their key upstream providers, a customer's redundancy plan is based on assumption, not fact.
A network map that simply shows Points of Presence (PoPs) can be misleading. True diversity requires knowing where the fiber physically runs—to ensure that your "diverse" connections don't unknowingly share the same conduit, cable landing station, or chokepoint. This level of granular detail allows network engineers to cross-reference routes and design a genuinely independent disaster recovery plan. For RETN, transparency is a core value, empowering customers with the critical data needed for effective self-management and troubleshooting.
The Strategic Mix of Terrestrial and Subsea Capacity
The conversation heavily underlined the critical nature of route diversification to avoid single points of failure (SPoF). Recent global cable cuts have highlighted the vulnerability of relying too heavily on traditional, high-capacity subsea routes, especially those that converge in volatile regions.
The key to long-term resilience, according to O’Sullivan, is strategically blending submarine and terrestrial capacity. Terrestrial routes, while offering less capacity than the largest subsea cables, provide essential geographical diversity that can keep services running when a major cable system is severed. The goal is not to choose one over the other, but to engineer a network that combines the speed and capacity of subsea links with the independent routing paths of terrestrial fiber, ensuring that a physical failure in one domain doesn't cascade through the entire network. Building this best-of-both-worlds mix is a proactive investment against future geopolitical and environmental risks.
Automation's True Value: Informed Decisions
When discussing the future of network services, O’Sullivan shifts the focus of network automation away from simple "instant provisioning." While quick delivery is a benefit, the far more significant evolution lies in using automation to give customers comprehensive data and control.
The next generation of automation isn't just about accelerating sales; it’s about providing customers with a full suite of real-time tools to make educated purchasing decisions. This includes instant visibility into bandwidth utilization, BGP status, latency metrics, and even service delivery tracking. By providing this information at their fingertips via customer portals, providers turn automation into a transparency tool, empowering customers to scale intelligently and ensure new services are truly diverse from their existing network. Ultimately, the most powerful automated network is one that informs, rather than just transacts.
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