Over the past five weeks, we've endeavored to explain precisely how data moves around the world, covering the basics of internet, transport networks, data centers, and the cloud along the way.

Today we answer our final, lingering question: What is a WAN?

First, let's get definitions out of the way. WAN stands for wide area network, which came out of the term LAN, or local area network.

Today's episode will help you brush up on the evolution of the WAN. We'll also hear from Brianna Boudreau, TeleGeography's current SD-WAN guru.

From This Episode:

• What is the Internet?
• What is a Transport Network?
• What Are Data Centers?
• What is the Cloud?
• Episode 508 | How Geography Influences Network Security
• Episode 501 | Are These WAN Sourcing Trends Real or Just Hype?
• Episode 425 | Surveying the WANscape
• Episode 421 | What Makes a WAN Truly Secure?
• Download the WAN Manager Survey Executive Summary
• What SD-WAN Is and How It’s Deployed

You may have heard a popular saying: There is no cloud, only other people’s computers.

To explain how it works, Senior Research Manager Patrick Christian joins us to talk cloud. We explain what it means to get something "as-a-service," hyperscalers, CDNs, and how companies get to the cloud.

From This Episode:

• What is the Internet?
• What is a Transport Network?
• What Are Data Centers?
• Explore our Cloud Infrastructure Map
• Episode 510 | Head in the Cloud, Toes at the Edge
• Episode 505 | It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Super Cloud
• Episode 410 | A Telecom Year in Review, Part 1
• Episode 304 | Understanding the Multicloud-Verse of Madness

We're back at it with episode three of our five-part podcast special that explains the nuts and bolts of the internet. We haven’t yet covered exactly how and where those networks meet and exchange traffic with each other and access their destinations. 

So today, it's data center time.

Senior Research Manager Jon Hjembo was on hand to help us work through data center types, their defining features, and what happens inside these facilities. We talk about who owns these structures and how their geography informs the way the internet works.

From This Episode:

• What is the Internet?
• What is a Transport Network?
• Episode 508 | How Geography Influences Network Security
• Episode 410 | A Telecom Year in Review, Part 1
• Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge
• Episode 308 | Data Centers and Digital Transformation
• Where in the World Is the Largest Data Center Hub?
• Does 70% of the World’s Internet Traffic Flow Through Virginia?

Welcome back to our five-part podcast special that literally explains how the internet you know and love works.

Last week we covered the most basic question: what is the internet?

Today, we tunnel deeper, exploring the physical transport networks behind this seemingly invisible, omnipresent information superhighway. Plus we get a little help from TeleGeography's own Paul Brodsky, Peter Wood, and Lane Burdette for this one

From This Episode:

• What is the Internet?
• Explore our Submarine Cable Map
• Episode 503 | The Total Transformation of Latin American Telecom
• Episode 424 | What Happens to Cables When The Earth Moves Under Our Feet?
• Episode 418 | Behind the Seas: Making Our Famous Submarine Cable Map
• Episode 416 | The Death of Voice Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
• Episode 404 | What Role Do Satellites Play in Global Communication?

What is the internet? Simply put, the internet is a network of computers.

Computers can only understand two things: on and off. Everything that we do on the internet is in binary—a series of 1s and 0s representing on and off—which gives instructions to your computer to do all the amazing things it does.

This means that the very bottom of the internet is a system for sending those 1s and 0s over wires (or spectrum in some cases). Whatever you do on the internet—email, videos, chats—the information is translated into that binary by your devices and then transmitted via packets.

We cover this process and lots more in the first episode of our five-part special to, well, literally explain the internet.

On TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we often focus on the long-haul, zeroing in on the network portion of telecoms. Today, with the help of Tiago Rodrigues, President and CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), we’re switching things up a bit.

Drawing upon his vast expertise in the Wi-Fi space, Tiago steps into the hot seat to outline the key issues in the wireless LAN.

This episode considers Wi-Fi 6, 6E, and 7 developments, OpenRoaming™ that allows seamless connection across different Wi-Fi networks, and Wi-Fi’s role in emerging solutions like NaaS.

We also discuss the digital divide and how to best use the limited resource of spectrum to ensure connectivity in our increasingly digital world.

From This Episode:

• WBA Annual Industry Report 2024
• Episode 504 | How NaaS Relates to SDN and Automation
• Episode 409 | The Digital Divide Episode
• Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge
• Episode 315 | How Enterprises Are Implementing NaaS (And Leaving MPLS)
• Episode 313 | The Need for NaaS

Today we welcome Nokia's Paul Unbehagen to the pod.

Paul has a deep history in the networking world, so he approaches his role at Nokia—NE Americas CTO—from the perspective of a network engineer.

Although our main topics this week are enterprise cloud and right-sizing cloud utilization, we use those as a springboard into many topics circling the state of the network in 2023.

We touch on the history of the enterprise’s move into the cloud and why some companies have reevaluated their cloud strategy in recent years. 

As it so often does, the geography of the cloud comes up, along with Paul’s take on location and design in the cloud. This brings us to the edge—not only what it means and where it is, but some of the new and exciting use cases of what edge computing facilitates.

Embedded in that conversation is also 5G and how mobile can push the network into being a central part of the business. And we can’t resist bringing up AI/ML.

From This Episode

• The price of managed cloud services
• X celebrates 60% savings from cloud exit
• Read @XEng post
• Episode 509 | Why 4G Is Still Relevant for Enterprise Connectivity
• Episode 508 | How Geography Influences Network Security
• Episode 505 | It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Super Cloud
• Episode 402 | Data Centers and the Opportunity at the Edge

This week on TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we welcome SmartCIC CEO Toby Forman to the show.

Toby comes to us with a global perspective on the development of fixed wireless access (FWA) and its potential as a disruptive technology in the enterprise connectivity space. 

After nailing down a solid definition of FWA in the market today, we run through the factors to consider when deploying FWA. Toby explains what Cellsmart—a division of SmartCIC focused on FWA—does for service providers and enterprises interested in going through this process.

Next, Toby offers some real-world use cases and shares how he sees the fixed wireless and wireless markets developing over the next few years, briefly delving into the broader implications of broadband access for economic development around the world.

This episode should leave you with a deeper understanding of the development of FWA, but also the ability to evaluate and plan for what is coming next.

From This Episode

• Cellsmart Mapping Project:  Heatmap of Tests | Tests By Date | Last 24 Hours Drive Testing
• Episode 508 | How Geography Influences Network Security
• Episode 504 | How NaaS Relates to SDN and Automation
• Episode 219 | NaaS, the Cloud, and the Future of 5G
• 2G and 3G Shutdowns Continue