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A Report on the OECD/BEREC Workshop on Interconnection and Regulation

I presented at a OECD/BEREC workshop that was held on the 20th June in Brussels, and I'd like to share some personal impressions and opinions from this workshop. The OECD/BEREC workshop was a policy-oriented peering and exchange forum. It was not a conventional operational peering forum where the aim is to introduce potential peers to each other and facilitate peer-based interconnection of network operators, but a workshop that involved both network operators and various national and EU regulators, as well has having inputs from the OECD. more

Verisign Expands MANRS Relationship to Strengthen Global Routing Security

Verisign has been involved with an initiative known as Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security, or MANRS, since its inception. MANRS, which is coordinated by the Internet Society, focuses on strengthening the security and resiliency of IP networks throughout the world by identifying and providing best practices for mitigating common routing security threats. MANRS began as a collaboration among network operators and internet exchange providers, with Verisign formally becoming a participant in its Network Operator Program in 2017. more

How Is Russia Connected to the Wider Internet?

Speculation about Russia disconnecting or being disconnected from the wider Internet abounds. In this article, we look at the connectivity of the Russian Internet to the wider Internet and how this evolved around the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the related sanctions. more

Top Six IT Trends Impacting Business Networks

For decades, IT followed business. Even the development of the World Wide Web didn't move this development much beyond the four walls of corporate offices -- outside connections were essential but never informed the growth of business-critical technology. Now the growth of public clouds, enterprise-grade social networking and mobile device use in the workforce is creating a new paradigm, one where business networks are reactive to IT trends -- here are six that are set to impact companies this year. more

Watch Live - What Does “Success” For IPv6 Look Like? (Briefing Panel on Nov 5)

Now that IPv6 deployment is happening in major networks around the world, the question becomes -- what does "success" look like for IPv6? How much IPv6 traffic is "enough"? What are major milestones we should be tracking in IPv6 deployment? What is next for IPv6? more

Did We Build the ‘Right’ Internet? (An Interview with Prof Andrew Russell)

The longer I have been in the tech industry, the more I have come to appreciate the hidden complexity and subtlety of its past. A book that caught my attention is 'Open Standards and the Digital Age' by Prof Andrew Russell of Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. This important work shines a fresh light on the process that resulted in today's Internet. For me, it places the standard 'triumphant' narrative of the rise of TCP/IP into a more nuanced context. more

Analysis of the Global IT Breakdown Caused by Microsoft-CrowdStrike

The Optus outage in Australia from last year was immediately on my mind when on Friday afternoon a similar event swept, this time, across the world. Also, in this case it was a software update that caused the problem. This time from global security software provider CrowdStrike. The culprit appears to be an update to the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, a security monitoring tool widely deployed by businesses and organisations on Microsoft desktop computers and notebooks. more

Why 5G Is in Trouble (and How to Fix It)

I have a somewhat unconventional view of 5G. I just happen to believe it is the right one. It is trapped inside a category error about the nature of packet networking, and this means it is in trouble. As context, we are seeing the present broadband Internet access model maturing and begin to reach its peak. 5G eagerly anticipates the next wave of applications. As such, 5G is attempting to both extend and transcend the present "undifferentiated data sludge" model of mobile broadband. more

FttH Is Not About High-Speed Internet Access - It Is About the Internet of Things

The future of our communications infrastructure will to a very large extent be based on the Internet of Things (IoT). What this means is that hundreds of millions of devices will be connected to the national broadband networks (NBN), gathering massive amounts of information and providing feedback in real time. In any single country, the electricity grid alone will have tens of millions of sensors and devices connected to deliver the energy efficiencies that we all so desperately need. more

Title II Will Have Little Effect on Telecom Developments in The USA

We now know what direction the FCC will take in reorganising the American telecoms market. For many years I have mentioned the rather bizarre situation in that country wherein broadband is not seen as a telecoms service but rather as an internet service, which is itself classified as providing content. Thanks to extensive lobbying from among the telcos (who also refer to themselves as ISPs) in the early days of the internet, back in the 1990s, the FCC accepted their unbelievable proposals. As a result, over the last 20 years or so the USA's telecom market has changed from being one of the most competitive among developed economies to what it is now: a market with hardly any fixed telecoms competition at all. more

More on Networks and Nationalization With Respect to Cyberwar

As a follow up to Susan Brenner's Networks and Nationalization and my comment there, I will go further in this post and talk about the "cyberwar" and "offense" aspects of her article. I think I made this point elsewhere as well... but before getting into a war, it'd be a brilliant idea to actually know that you can win. Cyberwarfare is the sort of game where you don't really need to be a huge government with the largest standing army in the world and sophisticated weaponry in order to win... more

The Changing Mobile World

Today's Internet is undoubtedly the mobile Internet. Sales of all other forms of personal computers are in decline and the market focus is now squarely on tablets, "smart" phones and wearable peripherals. In 2014 these providers sold 1.5 billion such devices into the global consumer market, and doubtless 2015's numbers will be greater. Half of all Internet-visible devices are now mobile devices and they generate 75% of all access provider revenues. more

Saint Martin Launches Smart-IX Internet Exchange Under CaribIX Project

The recent launch of a new internet exchange point in Saint Martin has propelled the territory towards a better, faster and more resilient Internet. The French Caribbean territory's new IXP, called Smart-IX, was launched in October under the auspices of a recently launched CaribIX project, which is coordinated by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), supported by the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG), funded by the INTERREG Caraïbes programme... more

The Net Neutrality Reversal Order: Why the FCC Will Prevail

It is now out -- all 539 pages entitled "Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order" (Reversal Order). As someone who has dealt with this subject matter at a working level over the past 40+ years, it seems clear that the FCC will readily prevail here and the protagonists need to move on. (Admittedly that is wishful thinking given the appellate revenue to be made and press blather opportunities.) The document from a Federal Administrative Law perspective is very thorough and well-crafted. more

How the Clinton “Village” Transformed Internet Paradigms: Together Making a Difference

U.S. Presidential elections and the resulting Administrations can make an enormous difference on many levels and become profound points of inflection. This reality is certainly starkly visible today. Perhaps for the Internet community as well as the general public, some of the largely unknown events and actions surrounding the Internet and the Clinton team from 25 years ago can provide a basis for engagement over the coming months. more