TeleGeography Explains the Internet

610: What You Need to Know About Network as a Service in 2025

Our next guest is Fahim Sabir, Director of Digital Solutions at Colt.

What is NaaS? Fahim joined us to clarify the often confusing world of Network as a Service (NaaS). We discuss Fahim's definition of NaaS and a breakdown of why it's important in the market. We also discuss the back end, examining what the carrier ecosystem needs to accomplish to make customer-facing NaaS a reality.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

609: A Telecom Year in Review

As the year ends, a few teammates joined us on the podcast to review the major telecom events of the past 12 months and chat about what we might anticipate in 2025. Some highlights 👇

⛓️‍💥 Analyst Lane Burdette joins the show to review some of the most headline-grabbing trends (https://blog.telegeography.com/what-to-know-about-submarine-cable-breaks) we saw in the submarine cable world.

☁️ While cables keep the continents connected, Principal Analyst Patrick Christian got on the mic to discuss one of the key reasons for that connectivity demand: cloud services.

📈 Of course, data centers underpin the cloud. For that conversation, we welcomed back Senior Manager Jon Hjembo after explaining our new Market Connectivity Score a few weeks ago (https://blog.telegeography.com/a-guide-to-calculating-the-worlds-next-interconnectivity-hub-according-to-you).

🐝 When it came to enterprise networks in 2024, it was hard to have a conversation that didn’t involve NaaS and security (https://blog.telegeography.com/when-networking-and-security-collide), specifically SASE. To talk about the trends surrounding the buzzwords, we had to call on Research Manager Brianna Boudreau.

🌎 So many of these conversations are underpinned by the transport network. To chat about the cost of sending bits around that global network, we were thrilled to welcome Research Director Rob Schult to tell us what was noteworthy in the world of telecom pricing in 2024.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

608: Data Assurance in the Age of AI

Our latest guest is Vinay Prabhu, Director of Product Management at Graphiant. He joins us to discuss the intricacies of moving data around the globe. Vinay outlines why you should think about your data in motion and what Graphiant is doing to ensure its safe passage, particularly as AI becomes prevalent.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

607: Internet Sourcing, as Explained by an Internet Aggregator

Our guest today is Rutger Bevaart, CEO and Co-founder of GNX. Rutger has a deep history in the telecom industry and founded GNX to streamline internet sourcing, which is undoubtedly a pain point for many listeners.

We discuss the shift away from MPLS and toward the internet and how that transition can bring many benefits to an enterprise; however, it also comes with complexity and new challenges, especially in sourcing and managing internet links worldwide. 

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

606: When Networking and Security Collide

Our guest today is Marcel Stadler, Product Manager of SD-WAN at Open Systems. Marcel joins our semi-annual conversation on SD-WAN; he outlines how managed SD-WAN providers like Open Systems approach these issues with their enterprise customers.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

605: A Guide to Calculating the World's Next Interconnectivity Hub (According to You)

Where are we building data centers? Why? What markets are primed for interconnectivity glory? Which ones are getting left in the dust?

We've heard these questions repeatedly, so we did what any reasonable telecom data provider would do: we developed an interactive tool to rank the world's best-connected and fastest-growing cities, scoring them on a scale of 0 to 100 across nine key categories.

This week's guest is resident data center expert Jon Hjembo. He explains how we developed the Market Connectivity Score and reveals what initial rankings tell us about the interconnectivity landscape and metro areas to watch, like Kuala Lumpur.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

604: Who Orchestrates the Orchestrators?

We're back on the AI beat, specifically looking at how it can support corporate network automation.

Our guest today is Jamie Pugh, CTO at Globalgig. Jamie joined the show to ponder automation and discuss enterprise network orchestration in the era of an increasingly complex WAN.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

603: What Network Managers Should Know About AI and Machine Learning

We had to do an AI episode of the pod. For that, we welcome Michael Wynston, Director of Network and Security Architecture at Fiserv. He's here to help us understand how AI is developing as a network management tool.

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

602: What to Know About Direct-to-Device Satellite Communications

For our next episode, we look to the sky. Our guest is Sal Salamone, Managing Editor of Network Computing magazine. Sal joins to discuss the emerging market for direct-to-device satellite communications. 

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research

601: The History of U.S. Telecom Policy (in Under 60 Minutes)

TeleGeography Explains the Internet examines U.S. telecom law. Greg is joined by Jeff Long, a private practice attorney with broad experience in the data center and telecom industry. 

• Podcast HQ: https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast
• TeleGeography Blog: https://blog.telegeography.com/
• Our Research: https://www2.telegeography.com/en/our-research