Episodes

Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
508: How Geography Influences Network Security
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
Today’s TeleGeography Explains the Internet guest comes to the security world with a deep background in cloud and networks.
Joe DePalo is Chief Platform Officer at Netskope, and the ideal person to help us understand how and why location matters in network security.
We first identify how the network has changed over the past few years, gauging the impact on both the threat landscape and how networks perform generally. Also on the agenda: why middle mile performance and security should be part of the equation, and how lessons learned from the challenges of creating CDNs are instructive about the modern issues in network security.
Finally, Joe offers a particularly interesting take on a question that comes up often on the podcast—what does it mean to have a WAN in this environment?
From This Episode

Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
507: How Do Targeted Ads Work? Is My Phone Listening In?
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
Today on TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we're asking the big questions about mobile advertising. Luckily, Ross Flynn of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum is with us to explain, which is exactly what we do on this show.
Ross has a background in digital advertising, making him the ideal person to walk us through advertising formulas that pair ads with IPs.
He talks to Greg about programmatic advertising—not just what it is, but how the practice impacts the mobile market. And then we get to the fun stuff: how do these advertising practices actually impact the mobile market? Is mobile advertising evolving? Does it present unique opportunities?
From This Episode

Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
506: Born in the (US)NUA: LIVE from Ohio!
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
In August we were pumped to join a meeting of the OH Network User Group at the fabulous BrewDog hotel and brewery in Columbus, Ohio. (If you're not familiar with the Network User Association, they're worth checking out.)
The Ohio chapter kindly agreed to let host Greg Bryan do a live talk on how enterprise WANs are changing and what the implications of those changes are for network costs.
We brought lots of WAN data, fielded tons of questions, and very much enjoyed the networking vibes in Ohio.
From This Episode
- How Common SASE Products Are Being Offered
- Episode 501: Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?
- Eight Enterprise Products, Explained
- How the Cost of Network Ownership Can Change Over Time
- SD-What? A Quick Explanation of What SD-WAN Is and How It’s Deployed
- Episode 425: Surveying the WANscape

Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
505: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Super Cloud
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
We're thrilled to welcome William Collins, Principal Cloud Architect at Alkira, to the pod.
We asked William to talk us through the history of enterprise cloud and highlight a few of the bigger issues in enterprise cloud networking today. His answers might surprise you.
We even talk about supercloud—what it is and what the implications are. Grab your super suit and punch the play button to hear the full discussion.
From This Episode
- Alkira Boosts Global Expansion Efforts for Enterprises with Cloud Exchange Point Presence in China
- Mapping Out Asia’s Cloud Data Center and Connectivity Market
- These Two Regions Account For About 65% of the World’s Cloud Data Centers
- How Common SASE Products Are Being Offered
- Cloud Infrastructure Map
- Cloud and WAN Research Service

Tuesday Sep 26, 2023
504: How NaaS Relates to SDN and Automation
Tuesday Sep 26, 2023
Tuesday Sep 26, 2023
The newest member of the TeleGeography Explains the Internet club is telecom industry veteran Mark Daley, Epsilon Telecommunications Director of Digital Strategy and Business Development.
After spending nearly a decade directly involved with SDN and NaaS at Epsilon Telecommunications, Mark is the perfect guest to help us talk through how NaaS is unfolding in the market.
The pod starts with Mark’s definition of NaaS and where he sees its availability in the current telecom services landscape. He also shares six important NaaS characteristics: visible, configurable, priceable, orderable, deployable, and manageable. (Be sure to write that down.)
Later, we talk about the history of Epsilon Telecommunications and how its mission became integrated into an incumbent provider.
From This Episode
- Episode 502 | Why Telecom Service Providers Need To Automate
- Episode 501 | Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?
- Episode 425 | Surveying the WANscape
- Episode 406 | Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality
- Episode 313 | The Need for NaaS
- Episode 219 | NaaS, the Cloud, and the Future of 5G

Tuesday Sep 19, 2023
503: The Total Transformation of Latin American Telecom
Tuesday Sep 19, 2023
Tuesday Sep 19, 2023
Luis Fiallo has been in the telecom industry for over 25 years. And for the majority of that time, he has been at China Telecom Americas, witnessing the many changes happening in the Latin American telecom market firsthand.
After years of helping to drive CTA's growth in the region, Luis—now Vice President—has many valuable insights to share with TeleGeography Explains the Internet.
Peter Wood, TeleGeography’s Senior Analyst covering Latin America, joins to cover the history of networks in the region, going back to the days when even intra-South American traffic tromboned to Miami and back.
We also discuss the idea of directly connecting developing markets around the world, without passing through the U.S. or Western Europe, and the economic connections between East Asia and Latin America.
Finally, we talk about the cloud and dig into the areas of the Latin American telecom market that Luis views as the most important to develop in the coming years.
From This Episode
- Episode 422 | AI Meets The Corporate Network
- Episode 404 | What Role Do Satellites Play in Global Communication?
- Episode 310 | How Global Events Impact the Internet
- Get Acquainted With Our Cloud Infrastructure Map
- 5G Frequency Frenzy: A Guide to Latin America’s Upcoming Spectrum Auctions
- Latin American Pricing Takeaways From ITW
- Has Geopolitical Conflict Between China and the U.S. Caused Their Networks to Disconnect?

Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
502: Why Telecom Service Providers Need To Automate
Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
In both 2021 and 2022, MEF CTO Pascal Menezes joined us on TeleGeography Explains the Internet to talk through the work MEF is doing on standardizing the enterprise network.
This season, we welcome a new face from the same team, Stan Hubbard, Principal Analyst at MEF.
Stan recently authored a State of the Industry Report for MEF, so we wanted to have him on to discuss his findings and see where the telecom industry is at with adopting new technologies.
Stan first explains the drivers in the market and why telecom service providers need to automate to stay relevant and competitive. He then outlines the path carriers can take to achieve this.
Next, we talk about his report and get details on the state of adoption of automation in the telecom industry, why customized or proprietary APIs are inefficient, the benefits of standardization, how enterprise drives automation, and even how blockchain will be involved in network contracts.
You can hear about more topics like this at MEF's Global NaaS Event, happening October 2-4, 2023 in Dallas.
From This Episode
- Global NaaS Event | Register Here (Free for Enterprises)
- Download the MEF State of the Industry Report
- Episode 408 | Orchestrating the Service Lifecycle
- Episode 202 | Would an SD-WAN by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?
- Episode 406 | Unraveling the Fabric Providers of Reality
- Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge

Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
501: Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Season 5 of TeleGeography Explains the Internet is here, and we're kicking things off with Dennis Thankachan, Co-Founder and CEO at Lightyear.
Because Dennis is in the unique position of being able to see how enterprises are sourcing networks, we were excited to talk to him about some recent WAN trends.
This episode gets into the shift to off-premises data centers, hybrid and remote work, the drive to cut network costs through changing technologies, right-sizing networks, and more.
We also touch on Dennis’ skepticism about some frequently mentioned WAN trends and technologies.
From This Episode
- Episode 425 | Surveying the WANscape
- Episode 422 | AI Meets The Corporate Network
- Episode 413 | A Brief History of Networking as a Service
- Real Talk: Are WAN Managers Adopting NaaS?
- Bonus Episode | The WAN in 2022

Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
425: Surveying the WANscape
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
This week, Season 4 of TeleGeography Explains the Internet ends on a high note with Junior Research Analyst Mei Harrison’s podcast debut.
As one half of our enterprise team two-man band, Mei is the perfect person to help me talk through results from our recently published WAN Manager Survey.
We highlight the key trends in multinational corporate networks around the world, covering MPLS vs. DIA use in the underlay, SD-WAN adoption, cloud connectivity, NaaS, and more.
Listen in for a comprehensive review of what is afoot in the world of WANs—plus a little preview of what we’re looking into next.
From This Episode

Tuesday Apr 18, 2023
424: What Happens to Cables When The Earth Moves Under Our Feet?
Tuesday Apr 18, 2023
Tuesday Apr 18, 2023
How are submarine cables impacted by tectonic shifts beneath the seafloor?
This week's guests on TeleGeography Explains the Internet are well-positioned to tell us. They join us from the UK’s National Oceanography Centre: Isobel Yeo, Researcher in Geology and Volcanology, and Michael Clare, Principal Researcher of Ocean BioGeoscience and Marine Environmental Adviser to the International Cable Protection Committee.
Mike and Izzy are geologists specializing in the seafloor, so their research has become vital for the submarine cable community.
While most cable faults are due to human activity, a fair number are caused by changes in the seafloor. This includes earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and even flooding on land.
We discuss the myriad ways that the dynamic nature of what lies under the surface can damage cables. We even get into the history of natural disasters and communications cables going back a century or more.
We get into a specific seismic event—the recent Tongan volcanic eruption—as well as ongoing threats to sub cables, including how climate change could increase risks and how we can start to mitigate them.
From This Episode:
- Episode 310: How Global Events Impact the Internet
- Explore our 2023 Submarine Cable Map
- Cutting off Europe? A Look at How the Continent Connects to the World
- Gloomy Economic Indicators… Scary Future for the Subsea Cable Industry?
- New Cables Are Coming to Africa
- Submarine Cable FAQs