Mar 29, 2021
SmartNICs, Explained
Most of our listeners are probably familiar with network interface cards (NICs, if you're savvy). But what about SmartNICs?
We like to keep our readers up to speed on virtual events and conversations that might be of interest. So mark your calendar for April 8 at 11 a.m. EDT/8 a.m. PDT, because we're teaming up with our friends at Netskope to host a discussion on the WAN evolution.
Earlier this month, Australian telecom group Vocus accepted a $2.7 billion (AUD3.5 billion) takeover offer from a consortium comprising Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and the pension fund Aware Super.
The deal is the latest in a series of Oceania-focused telecom takeovers.
Mar 23, 2021
SD-WAN Adoption is on the Rise
With the release of our latest WAN Manager Survey results comes new SD-WAN insight.
In short? The number of enterprises deploying SD-WAN increased significantly between 2018 and 2020.
Mar 22, 2021
The Tortoise and the Fiber Pair
A new subsea cable between Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands leads our list of telecom stories this month.
Expected to be ready for service by 2022, it's not just tortoises who will enjoy improved capacity. The project will "provide significant benefits for tourism, scientific research, education, and commerce in the region."
Technology such as SD-WAN, migration to the cloud, and the sudden surge of remote and distributed work have upended the modern WAN.
The composition of the underlay, flow of traffic, end points of workers, and security postures are all undergoing a massive shift. Like the protagonist in Canadian power trio Rush’s hit “Tom Sawyer,” WAN managers are realizing that “changes aren’t permanent, but change is.”
Figures from TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database show that the global wireless subscriber total has passed 8 billion. User numbers were up 1% in 2020, ending the year at 8.05 billion.
The cellular market showed year-on-year growth despite the negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which contributed to downturns in user take-up in a number of countries.
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.
Mar 5, 2021
What is Internet Middle Mile?
We had a feeling that our expert team would deliver a winning discussion during our TeleGeography Deep Dive on internet middle mile.
And disappoint, they did not.
With middle mile emerging as one of the next major topics of interest for global enterprises, our event appropriately started with the explainer of all explainers on this new market segment. (And, yes, we recorded the overview for our readers who couldn't make the live event.)
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.
