Episodes

Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
415: Unpacking Telecom Predictions of the Past
Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
It's one thing to make predictions. It's another to go back and assess how those predictions shook out.
One month into 2023, Mattias Fridström, Chief Evangelist at Arelion, very kindly agreed to scrutinize his 2022 forecast with us.
As you will hear, Mattias has been at Arelion (formerly Telia) for a long time. From his perspective within a tier 1 provider, he has an outstanding view of the industry. He uses that vantage point to write a forward-looking article every year, reviewing trends he expects to see in the days ahead.
We were thrilled that Mattias visited us at TeleGeography Explains the Internet to wade through those predictions from days past.
We start with the top three global carrier trends. Listen in for a closer examination of network security, utilization of the public internet, and disaggregated networks.
We also consider issues that arose in 2022—both anticipated and unanticipated—like skills gaps, cost increases/shortages like “chipmaggedon," and global issues outside the telecom industry.
From This Episode:
- Peruse Mattias' Original Predictions for 2022
- How Global Events Impact the Internet
- What to Know About Fiber’s Role in Ukraine’s Information War
- Explore the Hypothetical Network Blog Series
- The Data Center Sector: An Uncertain Juncture
- Content Providers Binge on Global Bandwidth
- Key Findings From Our Latest WAN Market Size Report
- Learn more about the WAN Manager Survey
- Explore the WAN Forum

Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
414: SASE and Secure
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
This week on TeleGeography Explains the Internet we welcome Jeremiah Ginn, Software Defined Cybersecurity Evangelist at AT&T and author of Diving into SASE.
In this episode you'll learn how to define SASE based on your audience and identify the key elements that belong in the SASE framework.
We then dig into the fast-paced update cycle for security software. Why is it necessary for the modern network? And what are the implications for upskilling and managed security services?
Next, Jeremiah and host Greg Bryan focus on zero trust and why enterprises need this security posture to be a part of any SASE framework. And we can’t talk about SASE without hitting on SD-WAN and the role of access in the SASE acronym.
From This Episode:

Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
413: A Brief History of Networking as a Service
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
This week's guest on TeleGeography Explains the Internet has a deep history in networking.
Khalid Raza was involved in some of the earliest large-scale MPLS deployments. Then, after seeing the limitations of MPLS, he co-founded Viptela–diving head-first into the SD-WAN revolution.
Khalid is now the Founder and CEO of Graphiant, a Silicon Valley-based startup. In this interview, he describes how enterprise networks have changed and why we need an approach beyond MPLS and SD-WAN.
We also discuss the origin of Graphiant, its approach to solving modern network problems, and how it differentiates itself from other NaaS and WAN services in the current market.
Of course, you can’t talk about networking without talking about security, so that comes up as well. We also look at how Khalid sees enterprise networks developing in the years to come.
From This Episode:

Sunday Jan 01, 2023
Bonus Episode: The WAN in 2022
Sunday Jan 01, 2023
Sunday Jan 01, 2023
You thought we were going to do a major end-of-year review of telecom trends and leave out all things WAN? No, no. Not on our watch.
Host and Senior Manager of Enterprise Research Greg Bryan broke out the data for this bonus New Years episode of TeleGeography Explains the Internet.
Fans of our annual WAN Manager Survey will enjoy getting a peek at our 2022 results. We've also got intel on NaaS, SASE, MPLS, and all the other acronyms that mattered to the WAN world in 2022.
Happy 2023, listeners. We're looking forward to exploring the global business of connectivity with you in the year ahead. Cheers to that.
From This Episode:
- Episode 406 | Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality
- Episode 405 | Unpacking Network Observability
- Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge
- Episode 315 | How Enterprises Are Implementing NaaS (And Leaving MPLS)
- Episode 312 | SASE Isn't Revolutionary. It's Evolutionary.
- Key Findings From Our Latest WAN Market Size Report
- Learn more about the WAN Manager Survey
- Explore the WAN Forum

Tuesday Dec 27, 2022
411: 2022 in Review (Part 2)
Tuesday Dec 27, 2022
Tuesday Dec 27, 2022
We're looking back at all things telecom in 2022. And we're doing it the best way we know how: rounding up our analysts and inviting them to discuss major findings in their areas of research on TeleGeography Explains the Internet.
If you want to dive in from the very beginning, you can listen to part one over here. And if you're ready for more, keep scrolling.
Part two takes us on a journey through the last 12 months of submarine cable news, SD-WAN, security, and major world events that intersected with telecom infrastructure.
We we thrilled to have TeleGeography's own Alan Mauldin, Brianna Boudreau, and Tim Stronge in the hot seat.
Not only did they bring data on the year that was, but they brought a wealth of insight on what we might expect to see across the industry in 2023. The perfect way to toast the New Year, if we do say so.
From This Episode:
- Episode 404 | What Role Do Satellites Play in Global Communication?
- Episode 312 | SASE Isn't Revolutionary. It's Evolutionary.
- Episode 310 | How Global Events Impact the Internet
- Episode 212 | Submarine Cables: It's Not Bitcoin
- Gloomy Economic Indicators… Scary Future for the Subsea Cable Industry?
- What to Know About Fiber’s Role in Ukraine’s Information War
- Zeroing in on the Trans-Atlantic Submarine Corridor
- Explore our Submarine Cable Map
- Download the 2022 SD-WAN Guide
- Read the Hypothetical Network Blog Series

Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
410: 2022 in Review (Part 1)
Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Greg Bryan kicks off the first of a two-part telecom year in review, welcoming experts Patrick Christian, Rob Schult, and Jon Hjembo to highlight the major trends they saw in their principal research areas.
Part one takes us through the year in wholesale internet, cloud services, transport pricing, data centers, and lots more.
We talk inflation, we talk energy, we talk geography. And we're only just getting started.
From This Episode:
- Episode 301 | Wholesale Pricing and the WAN
- Episode 205 | Putting The Data Center Geography in TeleGeography
- Episode 308 | Data Centers and Digital Transformation
- Explore the Hypothetical Network Blog Series
- Price Erosion Remains the Universal Norm
- A 2022 Update on African Network Geography
- A 2022 Update on Interconnection Geography
- The Data Center Sector: An Uncertain Juncture
- Content Providers Binge on Global Bandwidth

Tuesday Dec 13, 2022
409: The Digital Divide Episode
Tuesday Dec 13, 2022
Tuesday Dec 13, 2022
James “Jim” Capuano has logged over 30 years in the telecommunications industry. And he's the CEO of Horizon, a service provider with more than 125 years of telecommunications experience.
We recently asked Jim to share some of his knowledge on TeleGeography Explains the Internet. In this episode, we view middle mile problems and solutions from a provider perspective and discuss how the middle mile is developing in the current WAN environment.
Then we turn our focus to the digital divide. Why do we need to bridge it—and how?
From This Episode:

Tuesday Dec 06, 2022
408: Orchestrating the Service Lifecycle
Tuesday Dec 06, 2022
Tuesday Dec 06, 2022
Last year, MEF CTO Pascal Menezes walked us through the work MEF is doing on standardizing the enterprise network.
Nearly a year and a half later, Pascal is back on the pod to discuss what MEF has been doing since then.
Our first topic: Lifecycle Service Orchestration. What is it, how has it progressed, and what does it do for the carrier community?
We also get into enterprise automation, operational APIs, new SASE and ZT standards, and more.
This episode of TeleGeography Explains the Internet ties in perfectly with last week's, where Orchest's Jeremy Villalobos—who I actually met at a MEF event—helped us tackle why automation is so important from a carrier perspective.
From This Episode:

Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
407: Embracing Carrier Service Automation
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
This week, with the help of Jeremy Villalobos, COO of Orchest (formerly known as GoldConnect), TeleGeography Explains the Internet tackles automation from a carrier perspective.
What is it? How is it being used in telecom? And why is it crucial that carriers move toward automation?
Of course, we had to tie in the impact on the enterprise WAN, as well as the future of automation—including practical uses for blockchain telecom.
From This Episode:

Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
406: Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
This week, we're talking about NaaS.
We've covered NaaS in various contexts on TeleGeography Explains the Internet, but this episode focuses on fabric providers and where they're headed.
For that, we're so glad to have on our outspoken and knowledgeable friend Michael Wynston, Director of Network Security Architecture & Automation at Fiserv.
Michael has now been on TeleGeography's podcast not once, not twice, but three times—and it's safe to say that he really knows his stuff.
What are fabric providers doing and how do they fit into the context of the traditional WAN? Alongside your typical MPLS-Internet hybrid network? As a replacement for some of that WAN? Listen to our conversation to find out.
From This Episode: