On this episode, we hear from Mari Silbey, director of partnerships and outreach at US Ignite, as well as Alex Wyglinski and Casey Canfield, engineering professors and co-leads on a broadband deployment project in Clinton County, Missouri.The deployment, which will use RF-over-fiber to serve a rural community, was selected to receive grant funding through Project Overcome, a $2.7 million joint effort spearheaded by the National Science Foundation and US Ignite – with additional financing from Sc...
May 18, 2021•24 min
Light Reading contributor Gagandeep Kaur joins the podcast to discuss the state of telecom in India in light of the ongoing surge of COVID-19 across the country.We discuss the most important stories happening in the Indian telecom sector – from forthcoming 5G trials to satellite services; how the current coronavirus outbreak is impacting the industry and her coverage of it; and what other developing topics she's tracking this year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 12, 2021•15 min
Stanford University's Nick McKeown joins the podcast to discuss a career milestone and a very forward-looking 5G project that involves (hopefully not) crashing drones on purpose. McKeown today is set to receive the 2021 IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal "for contributions to internet router architecture and software-defined networking." This will happen during the 2021 IEEE VIC (Vision, Innovation, and Challenges) Summit and Honors Ceremony, which will be held virtually on May 11 through May 13, ...
May 11, 2021•27 min
Michael Murphy, CTO of wireless for North America with Nokia, joins the Light Reading podcast to examine areas where open RAN needs to be fleshed out for vendors and service providers to reap the full benefits of this technology.Murphy recently wrote a Guest Perspective column for Light Reading about the limitations of open RAN and the importance of developing standards to help the technology mature."The [open RAN] principles are good to opening up the system to more vendors but there are some c...
May 06, 2021•19 min
On this episode, we hear from Francella Ochillo, Executive Director of Next Century Cities: a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, that works to support local officials and community leaders in their efforts to expand broadband.She and I discuss the challenges local communities face in having their voices represented in broadband policy making, as well as how inaccurate FCC mapping data imperils state and municipal efforts, and the day-to-day work that Next Century Cities is doing to ...
May 06, 2021•20 min
It goes without saying that the editors at Light Reading are living the dream, but this job – nay, calling – is not all puppy tails and rainbows. The sad truth is that many of the email pitches we receive from public relations (professionals?) are off the mark.In this Light Reading podcast, editors Phil Harvey, Mike Dano, Jeff Baumgartner and I share some story pitches that are about as useful as a Shake Weight. Whether it’s letting us know which cities are the best to find herbal refreshment, w...
Apr 30, 2021•31 min
Nick Feamster, Neubauer Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, returns to the podcast to provide an update on his research into how COVID-19 has impacted Internet traffic demands in the US. He also discusses the impact the pandemic has had on Internet performance and how service providers are responding to these changes.By analyzing interconnection data for two large ISPs in the US, Feamster and his colleagues identified a 30-60% increase in peak traffic rates in Q1 of 2020....
Apr 29, 2021•23 min
On this episode, we hear from Shrihari Pandit, president and CEO of Stealth Communications, which provides fiber Internet to businesses in New York City.Since 1995 Stealth has been active in New York, where it has installed over 80 miles of fiber. In the last couple of years it's extended its service to underserved areas of Brooklyn, the South Bronx and Harlem.We discuss the company's expansion and what it takes to get fiber to businesses in underserved areas, how ending the digital divide will ...
Apr 29, 2021•12 min
Jason Cohen, CEO and co-founder of MyBundle.TV, joins the Light Reading podcast to discuss how his company connects viewers to streaming services, and assists broadband and cable providers in identifying new customers.In addition, Cohen examines drivers behind the cord-cutting trend, and shares why many viewers are still holding out with traditional pay-TV services."One of the big misnomers is that everyone has cut the cord. There are still about 70 million households with traditional TV, and th...
Apr 23, 2021•23 min
Anand Shah, Verizon's director of technology strategy and architecture, joins the podcast to talk all about private networks. We cover the wide variety of use cases for private networks, the enterprises and industries that present the most challenging private network deployments; and we talk briefly about security considerations and edge computing advancements involved as well.Shah also reminds us that managed services is a huge opportunity that surrounds private networks, even in those cases wh...
Apr 22, 2021•23 min
On this episode, we hear from Peggy Schaffer, executive director for the ConnectMaine Authority.ConnectMaine was established in 2006. Since then, Shaffer says it has spent approximately $12 million in grant funding to expand broadband services to people.She and I discuss the state of broadband in the state of Maine and what her office has been able to accomplish; as well as what she hopes to see from federal broadband legislation and why she believes we need to stop giving money to the FCC. Host...
Apr 22, 2021•19 min
On this episode, we hear from David Gilford, principal at HR&A Advisors and co-founder of the Broadband Equity Partnership: a consultancy focused on ending the digital divide in the US.In partnership with the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, the Broadband Equity Partnership recently issued a survey to 120 government and nonprofit broadband leaders across the country to assess local priorities for the federal government's broadband stimulus.David joins the podcast to discuss the re...
Apr 15, 2021•20 min
On this sponsored edition of the Light Reading podcast, we chat with Tyson Marian, Plume's chief commercial officer, about the company's new product, WorkPass. We'll cover what WorkPass is and why Plume is building services for small businesses. As part of that discussion, we'll discuss how Plume uses its experience in managing smart homes – especially its cloud and AI expertise – to help small businesses deal with their most challenging network issues.As ever, with Plume, it's not just about th...
Apr 09, 2021•22 min
Yousef Khalidi, corporate VP of Azure for Operators at Microsoft and a member of the founding team of Azure, joins the podcast to discuss how his role has evolved to working on Azure for Operators. Khalidi explains why working with service providers requires a different approach to enterprise customers."Operators have very unique requirements," says Khalidi. "The level of carrier-grade networking and availability is higher than what most other customers need. On a technical level, things like pa...
Apr 09, 2021•19 min
On this episode, we hear from Scott Willis, CEO of DartPoints, a colocation data center provider; as well as Bruce Garrison, chief revenue officer at Bluebird Network, a regional provider of fiber infrastructure.We discuss the different ways their companies are addressing the digital divide in the communities they serve, including in rural Iowa, and the ecosystem of companies necessary to improve access to connectivity and digital resources. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inform...
Apr 08, 2021•17 min
On this episode, we hear from Gary Bolton, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association: an organization of over 350 companies focused on delivering an all-fiber broadband network across the Americas.As the head of the Fiber Broadband Association, Gary is unsurprisingly pretty optimistic about fiber's potential and progress. We discuss why he says the US needs a fiber-first strategy and the legislation in Congress that could get us there, why hype around satellite broadband could be a "d...
Apr 01, 2021•21 min
Light Reading's Mike Dano joins the podcast to discuss which service providers and vendors are pulling ahead in the planning stages for 6G.In addition, Dano examines whether 6G will reach the terabyte per second speed threshold, and whether the industry will experience a smooth transition from 5G to 6G.While much is yet to be determined in regard to the benefits of 6G, Dano says there are two tangible improvements coming with the technology: "There's a discussion that 6G will be 80GHz and above ...
Mar 31, 2021•21 min
Ed Fox, CTO of MetTel, joins the Light Reading podcast to discuss challenges in extending SD-WAN services to home networks, whether SASE makes sense to enterprise customers and how MetTel is helping its customers navigate the onslaught of video conferencing and messaging applications."Extending SD-WAN to the home – we've done it sparingly and not as much as you would have thought," says Fox. As employees return to the office, Fox predicts that enterprises will take a hard look at the VPN, SD-WAN...
Mar 31, 2021•24 min
Light Reading's Alan Breznick is back on the podcast to discuss whether the NFL's $110 billion deal with a number of streaming video services will be the nail in the coffin for traditional pay-TV bundles."Everybody wants football and it's amazing that with football games on so many different places that the NFL is getting overexposed," says Breznick. "But it seems like you can't overexpose the NFL."In the lineup of streaming services that will now provide access to NFL games, Amazon Prime gained...
Mar 29, 2021•25 min
Adtran's CTO, Ryan McCowan, discusses the benefits of Mosaic One, a network and services optimization platform purpose-built to reduce subscriber churn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 29, 2021•19 min
On this episode, we hear from Blair Levin, who oversaw the creation of the National Broadband Plan under President Barack Obama and served as FCC Chairman Reed Hundt's chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, as well as Clint Odom, senior vice president of policy and advocacy at the National Urban League.Earlier this year, the National Urban League put forth the Lewis Latimer Plan for Digital Equity & Inclusion, outlining steps toward ending the digital divide and creating a more equitab...
Mar 25, 2021•30 min
On this episode, we hear from Bruce McClelland, CEO of Ribbon Communications, about his company's work with broadband service providers in the rural US.McClelland says he took advantage of this last year of lockdown to reach out to policymakers in Washington, DC, and local reps at the state level, to "gauge tone" on rural broadband. We talk about his takeaways from those conversations, as well as the challenging economics around expanding broadband in hard-to-reach areas, why he's enthusiastic a...
Mar 18, 2021•17 min
The King of Cable, aka Alan Breznick, returns to host the 14th year of Light Reading's Cable Next-Gen Technologies & Strategies event on April 28-29. While this year's event will be virtual, Breznick and his fellow cable industry experts will cover an array of topics including 10G, DOCSIS 3.1 and 4.0, DAA, Wi-Fi 6, fiber deployments and more.Breznick joins Light Reading's Phil Harvey and Kelsey Ziser on the podcast to discuss which topics will be covered during the event and provide insight ...
Mar 16, 2021•21 min
On this episode, we hear from Kostas Kastanis, deputy CEO of Upstream – a mobile technology company that works with providers to offer affordable and secure access to Internet services, primarily in emerging markets.Our conversation focuses on Upstream's work in Africa, where its service Zero-D offers free Internet access through an ad-supported model. Kastanis says this works especially well in countries like Nigeria where 1 gig of data costs more than an average day's pay. We discuss how Zero-...
Mar 11, 2021•25 min
The Light Reading podcast welcomes Gabriel Brown, Heavy Reading's principal analyst, mobile networks and 5G, to preview some of the discussions and topics that will be part of the 5G Next Wave Digital Symposium.The symposium will be moderated by Brown, along with Jim Hodges, chief analyst, Heavy Reading, and it will feature speakers from Swisscom, Anritsu, Red Hat, 5G Americas, Telus and more.As the 5G network goes from a 4G enhancement to a true, standalone next-gen network, the prospect of add...
Mar 06, 2021•13 min
MNJ Technologies COO Ben Niernberg returns to the Light Reading podcast to discuss predictions for growth in the MPLS and SD-WAN markets.According to a recent Avant Communications report, over 60% of enterprises plan to increase or significantly increase their SD-WAN usage this year and 59% plan to increase MPLS usage in 2021.Niernberg shares his perspective on these results, explaining that enterprises' plan to increase SD-WAN usage wasn't a surprise to him since the technology is "well past th...
Mar 05, 2021•22 min
On this episode, we hear from Claude Aiken, president and CEO of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA), which represents the wireless Internet service provider industry, covering an estimated 6 million customers.We discuss the role of fixed wireless technology versus fiber when it comes to ending the divide in rural and hard-to-reach areas, how WISPs have kept people connected during the pandemic and the organization's policy priorities under the Biden administration. Hoste...
Mar 04, 2021•17 min
This episode of the Executive Spotlight Q&A features Plume Co-founder and CEO Fahri Diner, a veteran telecom entrepreneur and investor that Light Reading has covered for several years. In this interview, we discuss Plume's origins, why it exists, and what technology advantage the company has in the market.We also talk about Plume's recent $270 million funding round, a massive Series E round that brings the company's valuation to $1.35 billion and its total equity funding to date to $397 mill...
Mar 01, 2021•29 min
On this episode of The Divide, we hear from Judge JD Clark of Wise County, Texas and Councilmember Craig Rice of Montgomery County, Maryland – co-chairs of the National Association of Counties (NACo) Broadband Task Force. The task force, formed in October 2020, is a coalition of nearly three dozen county government officials from across the US studying the country's digital divide and the challenges facing underserved communities.We discuss what the task force hopes to achieve, why FCC mapping n...
Feb 25, 2021•25 min
Light Reading Senior Editor Jeff Baumgartner joins the podcast to discuss the state of streaming video services and why they're eating away at pay-TV subscriber numbers. He also discusses new streaming services such as Paramount+, whether live sports can keep pay-TV alive, and what other features are keeping pay-TV subscribers from cutting the cord. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 24, 2021•14 min
