Wow—a lot of submarine cable news this month.
From a deep dive into global communication from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal's exploration of the Huawei case, there's a lot for any telecom fiend to take in.
We'll keep the fanfare brief. Keep scrolling to read these stories, as well as a Popular Science post about a new internet speed record, Bloomberg's profile on big tech in telecom, and the best SD-WAN conversation you'll hear all week.
How the Internet Travels Across Oceans
Why it’s worth your time: "Nearly 750,000 miles of cable already connect the continents to support our insatiable demand for communication and entertainment. Companies have typically pooled their resources to collaborate on undersea cable projects, like a freeway for them all to share."
This New York Times story takes on one of our favorite subjects—the submarine cables that power global communication. This in-depth explainer goes from the 30,000 foot view of how cables work, down to the latest data on how content providers are boosting their share of bandwidth.
A 10-Million-Pound Undersea Cable Just Set an Internet Speed Record
Why it’s worth your time: This Popular Science article is all about the MAREA cable. Recently Infinera announced that it had broken a record for how much data it could send through this cable in one second.
In this piece, author Rob Verger explores everything you wanted to know about this accomplishment.
Analyzing SD-WAN So Far And So Future
Why it’s worth your time: This Heavy Networking podcast—from the minds at Packet Pushers—dives into the business and strategy aspects of SD-WAN. Our own Greg Bryan is on hand to talk about deployment strategies, how to build a vendor shortlist, and the concept and ramifications of SD-WAN as a multi-sided market.
Rakuten Aims to Make a Splash in Japan
Why it’s worth your time: Japan has one of the most technologically advanced mobile markets in the world. Three well-established players–NTT DOCOMO, KDDI, and Softbank–dominate the sector.
When combined, these three claimed over 170 million subscribers at the end of 2018. But with the rivalry between the main players already intense, the market is poised to see more competition in the shape of a fourth network operator. Pete Bell explains in this month's trends post.
The Undersea Cable Market Is Booming Again, This Time Funded by Big Tech
Why it’s worth your time: If you're reading the TeleGeography blog, you've certainly read (or watched) us talk about content provider's new relationship with submarine cables. This Bloomberg piece does a lovely job capturing this current investment boom.
Internet companies are behind about four-fifths of transatlantic cable investment planned for 2018-20, up from less than 20 percent in the three years through 2017.
America’s Undersea Battle With China for Control of the Global Internet Grid
Why it’s worth your time: If you've been following the Huawei news, you might want to read this Wall Street Journal article. Amid the backdrop of espionage allegations and ballooning bandwidth demand, this post explores potential threats to the undersea cable business. It also underscores what makes the Huawei case so thorny.
Think you've got something that should be on our monthly reading list? Tweet it to us @TeleGeography.
