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 very first message over a network of computers that would eventually become the internet.

Oct 22, 2019

The State of Intra-Regional Connectivity in Latin America

How does Latin America connect? How does this connectivity affect regional prices? And what role does the United States play?

Oct 16, 2019

You're Building a Submarine Cable Where?

It turns out that the Arctic isn't the easiest place to lay a cable.

Expensive and logistically challenging, Arctic cables are at the center of one of our recommended reads for this month. If you're up for a story that includes forged signatures, Arctic ambitions, and the dynamite quote, “The question is not why Elizabeth did it, but rather, how did she think she’d get away with it?”—then keep reading, my friends.

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.

Sep 24, 2019

5G Rollouts Put the Pedal to the Metal

Lots of 5G news this week. Most notably, almost a quarter-billion new LTE connections were added worldwide in Q2 2019, according to 5G Americas.

You can read all about 5G mania below. There are also some worthy headlines about internet speeds, India's telecom battle, and a great interview between Recode's Kara Swisher and Huawei’s chief security officer in the U.S. Andy Purdy. 

Aug 26, 2019

Behind the Headlines: Recent Submarine Network News, Explained

This year has been—and will continue to be—a busy one in the submarine networking industry. Several new submarine cables have already been announced, deployed, or put into service.

Aug 20, 2019

How Do You Become Africa's Largest Telco?

For better or worse, MTN has been unafraid of doing business in locations experiencing war, political turmoil, and disaster.

This strategy has made them one of the biggest telcos in Africa—but it hasn't come without cost. The Wall Street Journal's recent profile earns the top spot on our list of monthly reads.

Jul 25, 2019

Some of the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in Telecom Are Happening in Africa Right Now

When we look through some of the most interesting telecom stories from the last month, a theme emerges.

There's a lot of submarine cable and data center news coming out of Africa. 

We've selected stories about Facebook's plan to bring cheap internet to Africa, as well as a profile on Equiano, Google's new private subsea cable connecting Portugal and South Africa.

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.