Telecom Ramblings

Data centers and the cloud sit at the heart of modern infrastructure, and thus are a natural focus when it comes to discussions about security.  With us today to share his perspective is DataBank’s Chief Information Security Officer Mark Houpt.  Mark accompanied a delegation led by the Kansas City Tech Council to a TECNA DC Fly-in event in Washington DC in early February, before COVID-19 shut down much of the country.  They were there to provide input on the development of privacy legislation for the US that would take aim at similar issues as Europe’s GDPR, as well as to discuss top security concerns that today’s internet infrastructure faces. Also included in this Industry Spotlight are his thoughts on the pandemic as it relates to cybersecurity. [Read more →]

Tofane Global has found itself another consolidation opportunity. Yesterday they announced a deal to acquire NOS International Carrier Services. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Phill Lawson-Shanks, Chief Innovation Officer, Aligned Energy

Although David McCrory introduced the concept more than a decade ago, what the software engineer and managing partner at Data Centric Strategies described as “data gravity” has taken on considerably more significance in recent years. [Read more →]

Here are a few quick takes worth noting, both pandemic-related and not: [Read more →]

After winning in court a couple months back, nothing was going to stop T-Mobile from polishing off its purchase of Sprint. So pandemic or no pandemic, the deal was officially closed today and where there were 4 there are now 3 – at least until Dish follows through. [Read more →]

Just when you think all the FCC does is have meetings and tell others what they can and can’t do, they come up with some actual money. In the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the FCC under chairman Ajit Pai has announced a $200M plan for Telehealth support. [Read more →]

It’s more than a little chaotic out there, here’s a few infrastructure items sifted out of the chaos to make note of: [Read more →]

For over a decade after the dotcom bubble the infrastructure sector undertook almost no new intercity fiber buildout projects, but in the last 5-10 years that has slowly changed.  New players in the sector have driven that change, some very publicly and some very quietly.  One of the quiet ones has been MOX Networks, which has flown largely under the radar since 2013.  But at PTC and Metro Connect the company stepped out of the shadows and started telling people what they are up to.  With us today to talk about MOX Networks’ approach to building fiber and give his views on the dark fiber business as a whole is President & COO, Justin Melnikoff. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Amy Fredj, Product Manager of Cloud Infrastructure Software at Nokia

The advent of the cloud has suddenly made technology available to the masses by offering an efficient and cost-effective way to access information. Consumers can now [Read more →]

I hope everyone hasn’t gone stir crazy in lockdown yet.  Here are four quick internet infrastructure updates worth keeping an eye on from four different continents: [Read more →]

According to reports, Facebook is considering buying its way into the Indian telecommunications market. They are supposedly close to a deal for 10% of Reliance Jio, although current coronavirus-related travel issues are slowing things down. [Read more →]

A metro fiber recap, a new partner/investor, and an MSO network upgrade: [Read more →]

The coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate everything, which means that non-pandemic news is going to be a bit thin for a while.  C’est la vie, here are a few of the more interesting bits from over the weekend: [Read more →]

The demand for bandwidth due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is definitely stretching global internet infrastructure a bit. Both YouTube and Netflix have now agreed to reduce streaming quality in an effort to not overload European capacity. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Prodapt

An accurate inventory of assets and services is the cornerstone for any digital service provider. Yet, Digital Service Providers (DSPs) face several challenges in managing the completeness and accuracy of inventory data. Most of the cases, a DSP’s physical and logical network inventory are often 20-30% out of sync. [Read more →]

Everyone is adjusting to this new reality, and in the telecom and internet infrastructure world they are dealing with not just protecting their employees but meeting the demand caused by behavioral changes.  Sometimes it’s an opportunity, but sometimes it’s a scramble to keep things online.  Here are two of the first, and one of the second from this week so far: [Read more →]

Some interesting pandemic-related infrastructure news, plus three vendor wins worth noting: [Read more →]

The pandemic continues to disrupt, but while everyone else pauses the world of internet infrastructure does  have to keep on rolling.   Let’s do our best not to lose focus entirely. Here are a few more bits of news to digest from the start of this week: [Read more →]

Yesterday, Internap announced that it has entered into a restructuring support agreement with its creditors and filed for Chapter 11 in the southern district of New York. The deal ends the data center and network company’s search for strategic alternatives in the wake of declining EBITDA alongside looming capital lease payments and financial covenants on its debt. [Read more →]

Ok, last week was a busy one for me and I missed a few items that it’s time to catch up on.  Here’s some quick takes, two undersea, one channel, and one metro fiber: [Read more →]

Regionally focused network operators often fly under the radar in the broader market, but lately they have been taking on a more public role.  Great Plains Communications has been steadily expanding its reach out from its core Nebraska footprint while shifting more and more to fiber and next generation technologies.  With us today to talk about the company’s approach is its newly minted Chief Technology Officer, Tony Thakur. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Epsilon’s Prasanna Caliaperoumal

Worldwide spending on digital transformation is set to reach $2.3 trillion in 2023 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.1%, according to IDC. Over the next five years, digital transformation will become the [Read more →]

Some submarine capacity, a new data center expansion, and the completion of another: [Read more →]