Networks

Oct 29, 2019

50 Years Ago Today the First Message Was Sent Over the ARPANET

It's a big day in internet history. On October 29, 1969, Professor Len Kleinrock and his team of graduate students at UCLA sent the first message over a network of computers that would eventually become the internet.

Oct 8, 2019

Is Your Planned Submarine Cable Doomed?

Anyone who follows the submarine cable sector knows that a lot of cables have been built in recent years—and investments in new cables keep coming.

I gave a presentation at Submarine Networks World 2019 in Singapore titled "Is Your Planned Submarine Cable Doomed?" My goal was not to identify particular planned cables that I think are doomed to fail, but rather to highlight some of the key flaws we often see when assessing cable operator business plans on behalf of investors.

Oct 3, 2019

Signals of Success: What to Look for in Submarine Cable Press Releases

I'm a cynic and you can be one, too!

This was the title of Tim Stronge's presentation during a recent webinar we did with our friends at Ciena.

Our favorite neighborhood cynic came bearing an important public service announcement for webinar attendees: just because you see a flashy slide deck or press release about a new submarine cable doesn't mean it's going to happen.

Jul 9, 2019

Building and Managing Security Empowered SD-WAN

The benefits of SD-WAN are apparent: more bandwidth, local breakouts, flexibility, etc. That being said, the larger attack surface makes it vital for security to be at the forefront of any modern deployment.

Jul 1, 2019

Will New Satellites End the Dominance of Submarine Cables?

There’s been a lot in the press recently about new low-orbit satellites. Rumors abound about content providers wanting to move their internet traffic off of the ocean floor and into space.

Jun 25, 2019

Will Bandwidth Prices Eventually be the Same on All Routes?

I call this one the price parity myth—the notion that one day bandwidth prices will be the same on all routes.

Jun 20, 2019

Are Content Providers The Biggest Investors in New Submarine Cables?

We’ve written quite a bit about content provider’s investments in new cables. And we’ve seen headlines about Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook’s big new investments. So does that mean that content providers are the largest investors in new submarine cables?

Jun 13, 2019

Are New Cables Avoiding Landing in the UK Because of Brexit?

Is it true that new cables are avoiding landing in the UK because of the Brexit vote? I was curious to see if there was any validity to this myth, so I took a closer look.

Jun 11, 2019

Do Human Senses Provide the Ultimate Cap on Bandwidth?

Our thirst for bandwidth must have a ceiling. It just must.

In our first-ever user-submitted myth, Chief Engineer of the Australia-Japan Cable Phil Murphy asked our experts a tough one. If it were possible to create the ultimate VR device that delivered a fully-immersive experience—catering to all possible sensory inputs—what would the bandwidth be and would our own senses create a cap?

In short: will sensory overload dictate an eventual bandwidth ceiling?

Jun 7, 2019

Will Fiber Pairs Become the New Coin of the Realm?

Have you heard that submarine cable fiber pairs will eventually become a standard unit of purchase? I have. And it prompted me to roll up my sleeves and do some fact-checking.

Are people going to be buying fiber pairs? Will carriers? Enterprises?