Networks

The Internet Is Fragmenting - Most of the People Who Should Notice Aren’t Looking

The internet is fragmenting across cables, routing systems and governance. Most network engineers, focused on regional operations, are missing how technical infrastructure and state power are reshaping a once interoperable network.

Running-Code Primacy - The Patch Needed to Preserve the Internet’s Original Design

This essay argues that Internet governance has drifted from technical coordination into unaccountable institutional power, and proposes "Running-Code Primacy" as a post-RIR framework grounded in distributed validation, interoperability, and voluntary adoption rather than registry authority.

The New Space Race for Direct-to-Device Mobile Networks

Three decades after Iridium's costly collapse, falling launch costs and improved signal processing are reviving satellite-to-phone ambitions, as Starlink, Amazon and AST SpaceMobile race to build direct-to-device networks that could reshape mobile coverage and competition.

Building RIPE SEE: A Conversation With Jan Žorž About Community, Trust, and the Work Behind a Regional Event

Jan Žorž reflects on SEE RIPE's role in uniting a fragmented region, where trust built through informal exchange now underpins internet resilience and helps align engineers with policymakers as regulatory pressures intensify.

Beyond Connectivity: How Submarine Cable Resilience Dictates Digital Sovereignty in the Age of Fragmented Governance

Subsea cables underpin global data flows, yet resilience, control and deep sea access now define digital sovereignty as governance fragments, hyperscalers consolidate ownership, and states prioritize survivability over efficiency in an increasingly contested geopolitical seabed.

IP Reputation for AI Teams: The Infrastructure Concept Nobody Explains

As AI agents scale, IP reputation emerges as a hidden constraint, shaping access to external systems and degrading performance. Managing network identity, not just models, is becoming essential for reliable data collection.

Africa’s Community Networks Offer a Local Path to Inclusive and Resilient Connectivity

Community networks, locally built and governed, are emerging across Africa as cost-effective tools to extend connectivity, bolster digital sovereignty, and improve cyber resilience, despite regulatory, financial, and technical constraints that hinder broader adoption.

Fixing Geofeed: From Self-Reported Data to Verified Trust

Geofeed data, long reliant on unverifiable self-assertions, faces mounting security risks. Integrating RPKI could transform it into a trusted, cryptographically validated infrastructure, strengthening routing integrity, regulatory compliance, and digital sovereignty across an increasingly contested internet.

The Internet Has a New User - It’s Not You

AI agents are rapidly becoming primary internet users, with inference-driven traffic reshaping network demands and exposing infrastructure blind spots as latency-sensitive, machine-to-machine activity begins to outpace and outcompete human web behavior.

NOGs at a Crossroads: Confronting the New Demands of Network Operations

Surging outages and mounting losses are increasingly forcing a rethink of network operations, as NOGs now confront a shift from technical exchange to strategic governance, where resilience, leadership, and institutional influence define the profession's future.