Packets Down Range #8:Water in the data center, Comcast fees, Starlink speeds
Welcome to issue #8 of Packets Down Range. I am making haste in order to get on the road to Texas for some work. It will be nice to go from 31-degree weather in Indiana to 70s in Texas, even though some of it will be spent inside a data center at night. News has been a little light due to new items
Data Center News
•AWS says it will be water positive by 2030. As part of the “water+” initiative, Amazon Web Services shared the Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) for its data centers, and said it will report annually on its WUE, new water reuse and recycling efforts, as well as new activities to reduce water consumption in its facilities.
•Edge deployments starting to accelerate. SBA towers and others are pushing this trend.
Interconnection & Peering
•Omni Fiber acquires Ohio Telecom Inc. Omni Fiber, a Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) provider committed to bringing high-speed Internet access to underserved markets in the Midwest has acquired Port Clinton based Ohio Telecom, Inc. to accelerate growth.
•Comcast Business expands into H5 Albuquerque
ISP News
•$224 Million in high-speed broadband grants for Tribal lands in the United States
•Starlink speeds appear to be dropping.
•785,000 TV cable subscribers lost in Q3 of 2022. Mainly attributied to “cord cutters”
Podcasts & Videos
•The Brothers WISP #169 is out
•WIlle Howe’s Latest Video
Other Industry News
•25 Days of ARIN. Follow them on Twitter for fun facts and figures. #25DaysOfARIN
•FCC’s new rules for Affordable Connectivity Progam
•As reported in a previous edition, Broadband “Nutrition label” is now required.
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The Mess we call BGP
Ever wonder why BGP seems to be such a complicated protocol to administer? It seems pretty straightforward to set up. Some commands, and you have a BGP session. Easy huh? BGP is one of those things where the more BGP feeds you bring in, the more complex traffic management becomes. Why? Take a look at the following graphic.
What you are looking at is a small visualization of some of the AS connections to Hurricane Electric (AS6939) in North America. This is not all of them, just what I could fit on the screen for this article. Some of these are “transit ASes” which means they sit between Hurricane and another network or networks. This is important to understand because they can influence how your traffic reaches customers or resources on Hurricane electric if they are between you and them. The same thing goes for Hurricane Electric. They are a transit AS between companies and resources. Their policies in terms of BGP traffic can influence your traffic. This is just one AS. There are thousands and thousands of others.
Now imagine you have 4 upstream providers with various peerings and upstream peers. Each one of them can do various manipulations to the same destination. Your routers will pick the best path, but that path may have Congestion or a host of other influences on your traffic.
For myself, as a network engineer, being able to diagnose and troubleshoot path issues is an art, just as it is a science.
Packets Down Range #7:Thanksgiving edition
Welcome to issue #7 of Packets Down Range. Turkey Day is almost upon us here in the States. As a result, I am pushing this out a day early. Keep those news reports coming. I will be having a Patreon Edition on Black Friday, mainly focusing on some hand-picked deals related to networking. I also have some items listed on Facebook WISP equipment with free shipping for Patreon supporters.
Data Center News
•How do Data Centers work? When touring part of Flexential’s datacenter campus, called Hillsboro 3, one gets a sense of just how much power, equipment, money and personnel goes into operating Oregon’s growing tech sector.
•Chicago data center market is booming. I hate paywalls, but you can preview the article.
Interconnection & Peering
•INEX reaches a new traffic peak thanks to FIFA World Cup
•Some cool photos on this page relating to fiber and infrastructure
•Lumen to sell off assets in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
ISP News
•T-Mobile talks FWA as an overlay
•Vistabeam to expand to Chappel, Nebraska.
•As mentioned in a previous edition, Broadband labels are now out.
Podcasts & Events
•The Network Berg has a video on Ansible for Network Engineers
•Preseem Podcast Episode 3 is out. Anton Kapela and Dave Clelland join us as our first guests to talk about Tarana. They discuss with RF experts theoretical minimums, whether it’s a “Mimosa B11”, and the magic behind it.
•The Brothers Wisp #174. Interview with David Zumwalt CEO of WISPA
Other Industry News
•Is fiber going to price itself out of the running? Supply Chain issues and rising labor costs could put a damper on fiber deployments
•News about the new FCC maps.
Article 1
Broadband Map Home
•cnMaestro 3.2.0 is out Release notes are available here…
Please consider becoming a sponsor by advertising or becoming a Patreon or donating any amount via Paypal for additional content. #packetsdownrange packetsdownrange.com
ARIN consulting package end-of-the-year special
From now until the end of the year, I am running the following consulting package, including the following ARIN services.
-Helping you set up your organization within ARIN
-Helping you set up your Point of Contact (POC) records
-Getting your own ASN
-Getting an IPV6 allocation
-Generating RPKI and ROA for up to 10 IP blocks (V4 and V6)
-Creating route registry entries for 1 ASN and up to 10 IP blocks
-Creating a PeeringDB entry and linking that to your route registry
-Setting up your IP blocks to point to a reverse DNS server
-Updating your whois information (if needed)
-Signing you up for ShadowServer reports
-Signing you up for monitoring of your blocks (up to 5 for free)
-Tutorial on using Looking Glasses to view your IP blocks and how they relate to other networks
All of this for $1200. This is a savings of over $800 with this promotion. Don’t wait. I only have limited slots available. I can put you on a payment plan (10% fee) or take a 20% deposit to secure the promotion for 60 days.
Optional Add ons
-Hosting a reverse DNS server for your IPs
-IPV6 Deployment plan
-Justification for getting on the waiting list for an IPV4 block
-BGP setup for Team CYMRU
You can e-mail me here for more details.
Packets Down Range #6:OpenWifi, iOT, RDOF,CBRS
Welcome to issue #6 of Packets Down Range. The thing I am excited about lately is the 100 Gig passive mux by solid optics. One of the hats I wear is running an IX. We are always looking for ways to best utilize our dark fiber assets to increase data rates. Keep those tips and articles coming. I am working on the Patreon edition, and it will be released shortly.
Data Center News
•Are Data Centers pricing themselves out of the market? Rising energy costs, increases in cross-connect fees, and just general price raising are causing more folks to look at moving more things into the cloud.
Interconnection & Peering
•Hurricane Electric expands to DataBank DFW1.
ISP News
•According to Leichtman Research Group, Verizon and T-Mobile added 15x more subscribers in Q3 2022 than the top 7 cable providers in the US combined.
•101 most innovative Texas wireless companies according to beststartuptexas.com.
•Crosstown Fiber extends its footprint in the greater Chicago area.
Crosstown’s underground network is designed for customers who need access to resilient fiber pathways. The company will target school systems, large corporations, hyperscalers and data center operators, small cell wireless carriers, content providers, and municipal and other government agencies.
•California Internet (GeoLinks) and Shenandoah Cable Television are the latest to be authorized by the FCC for their RDOF-winning bids. People’s communications in Texas is the latest to default on their bids. The full article can be read here.
Podcasts & Events
•Inside Towers Podcast
•Willie Howe has a video on routers vs. firewalls.
•Ohio Linux Professionals conference December 2nd and 3rd.
Other Industry News
•ARIN releases a new version of its RSA.
•FCC to release updated broadband map on November 18th
•NTIA releases plans for all that BEAD money
•Netflix is still winning the streaming wars…for now.
•Does CBRS fall short? This article claims it does.
•What does your office do for fun or unique awards for employees?
•META moves away from connectivity. Will OpenWiFi suffer because of it?
Notable Equipment
•Solid optics releases a new 8 Channel OWDM mux. What does this mean for you? You can run 8 100 gig waves over a passive mux system up to 20km. Each channel is 400 GHz.
•Juniper announces ACX7024 Metro Router.
•WIFI 7 routers are on the way.
Please consider becoming a sponsor by advertising or becoming a Patreon or donating any amount via Paypal for additional content. #packetsdownrange packetsdownrange.com
Packets Down Range #5:Starlink Caps, Bitcoin to replace IPs? TBW #173
Welcome to issue #5 of Packets Down Range. Keep those news articles coming! In this issue: Bitcoin to replace IP addresses? Starlink caps. TBW #173. The Patreon edition can be found here for supporters.
Data Center News
•MidWest is attractive to HyperScalers. Cooler weather and lower costs are driving factors.
•365 Data Centers acquires the network and colocation business of Sungard Availability Services.
The new data center facilities are in Alpharetta (GA), Aurora (CO), Carlstadt (NJ), Marlborough (MA), Philadelphia-Downtown (PA), Rancho Cordova (CA), Richardson (TX), and Smyrna (GA).
Interconnection & Peering
•Using Bitcoin to replace IP addresses? This article gets the synapses firing. However, do we want IP addresses to be de-centralized? They are resources, and resources need managing. If they were as plentiful as water is an argument. I say, “But we still regulate water to a degree.” Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of a practical application. I just don’t think this is one. Maybe I’m wrong. We will see..
•Hurricane Electric turns up another pop in Canada.
•Is the “Tier 1 Provider” designation outdated in today’s interconnected world?
ISP News
•FCC says 6GHZ is a good thing for providers
•Even big companies, such as TDS, are experiencing labor and supply chain issues.
•759 Million in broadband funds spread across 24 states. Read the USDA press release here
•Starlink imposes Data Caps. starlinkhardware.com is a great resource for keeping up on all things Starlink-related.
•Don’t ignore those copyright violation emails. It could cost you $46.7 Million. If you need some help, I wrote an article that includes info about Registered copyright agents.
•Oregon Internet gets a speedboost from Hunter Commuications.
Today, Hunter Communications announces its fastest internet speed to date, 2.5G/2.5G. This offering makes Hunter the only service provider in its territory to offer fiber-to-the-home internet speeds this high.
•Fixed wireless equipment spending to exceed $25 Billion over the next 5 years.
Podcasts & Blogs
•Packet Pushers has a blog post on automating the Data Center space.
•Vince over at IP Architects published a post on IP Infusion and EVPN-MPLS
•Episode 2 of the Preseem Podcast – WISPAPALOOZA 2022
•The Brothers Wisp #173 – IX cast #2. Yours truly joins Tommy, Martin, and John to talk about exchanges and peering.
Other Industry News
•FTC says Vonage has to pay $100 Million
Earnings News
•Microsoft’s (MSFT) revenue growth numbers still beat expectations, given they are both hyperscaler and a major cloud service provider with its Azure offerings. “This quarter, Microsoft Cloud revenue was $25.7 billion, up 24% (up 31% in constant currency) year-over-year.
•Google’s parent company Alphabet (GOOG) fell short of investors’ expectations in its earnings, causing the company’s shares to fall 28% this year. The Google Cloud, though, grew at 38% to $6.9 billion in revenue, beating analysts’ predictions.
•Amazon (AMZN) Web Services reported a 27% increase in segment sales to $20.5 billion
•Equinix (EQIX) reported an increase in revenue of 10% to $1.8 billion and a sixth consecutive quarter of record channel bookings. A net income loss of $212 million diluted the cost of a share to $2.30, a 3% decrease from the previous quarter.
•Digital Realty (DLR) reported revenue of $1.19 billion, though the share price decreased 42.6%
•Iron Mountain (IRM) reported a solid third quarter, coming in with total revenue of $1.29 billion.
Humor
This is one of my favorite Dilbert cartoons
Sponsor FD-IX
Peering, Interconnection, and multi-site connectivity visit fd-ix.com
The Patreon edition of PDR came out last night for further reading.
Packets Down Range (PDR). Please consider becoming a sponsor by advertising or becoming a Patreon or donating any amount via Paypal for additional content. #packetsdownrange packetsdownrange.com
Packets Down Range #5: Patreon edition
Welcome to the Patreon edition of Packets Down Range. This is where you get even more news and content for supporting PDR. In this issue we talk about MineCraft and how you can manage data centers, Preseem 2022 notification, and more.
CloudCraft -Learn about the Cloud and explore the important role Datacenters play, and engage as active digital citizens to learn how data is managed and protected across the globe.
•Little older but Morrison & Company to acquire Fiberlight
•Sign up to receive the Preseem 2022 Fixed Wireless report.
•Northleaf capital to invest $230 Million in Mercury Networks
Tech Tip: New features Apple Mail for macOS Ventura
For those of you running Apple Mall under the new macOS Ventura (13) below are some of the new features.
Undo send. After you send an email, you have a few seconds to unsend it to make corrections or other changes. See Recall email with Undo Send.
Schedule with Send Later. You now have the option to schedule a time to send an email. See Write and send emails.
Remind me. If you don’t have time to respond to an email right away, you can set a time and date to receive a reminder and have the email moved back to the top of your inbox. See Use Remind Me to come back to emails later.
Follow-up. You can receive a notification to follow up on emails you’ve sent that have yet to receive a response. See Reply to, forward, or follow up on emails.
Missing recipients. If you forget to include recipients that you mention in an email, you receive a message before you send it asking if you want to add them.
Improved search. Smart search suggestions and corrections improve your searches and offer better content when you search in Mail. See Search for emails.
Filter your inbox with Focus. Specify Mail accounts that you can receive messages from when a Focus is on. See Use Focus filters in Mail.
Packets Down Range #4: Security, Streaming & rate hikes,ARM processor news
Welcome to issue #4 of Packets Down Range. My name is Justin, and I’ll be your host. Highlights of this issue include acquisitions, arm processor news, Nanog elections, and more. . Since the last issue, I have registered packetsdownrange.com. If you have news or want to discuss sponsorship opportunities, please contact me.
Data Center News
•Data Center Switch spending to actually increase. this jives with Companies, such as Arista, who are posting better-than-expected earnings.
•Would you run your data center at ninety degrees? Some data centers are exploring options to save water.
•Install a data center in 6 hours
Interconnection & Peering
Wired has an article on underwater cables. In this article is a link to Subsea Cables FAQ. One of the most interesting is there are around 100 cable faults a year with undersea cables.
ISP News
•Charter raises prices by $5
•Vistabeam acquires Front Range Internet.
•Fastwyre expands its service. The combined company provides internet, phone, and video to customers in Alaska, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas
•No surprise here! Federal aid was abused by large telecoms and small ones as well.
•In the last edition, I talked about layoffs Verizon announced layoffs this past week.
Podcasts
Willie Howe schools us on Layer 3 vs Layer 3 Lite vs Layer 2+ Switches
Other Industry News
•Yet again, Europe imposes its will on the Internet. European laws are why we have all these annoying “Accept cookies” popups. They are the reason the iPhone is going to USB-c. Now they want to make the Internet more open.
•Netflix acquires 6th Gaming studio
•Starting February 1, 2023, ARIN will enforce 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) on all Arin Online accounts.
•Arm could change licensing to phase out CPU licensing. Could this affect Mikrotik?
Qualcomm claimed in its filing last week that Arm has already told at least one device maker that uses Qualcomm’s processors that it will need to obtain a “new direct license from Arm” in the future to use Arm-powered silicon. This new license will apparently require product manufacturers to pay royalties directly to Arm for every Arm-based device sold. If these makers do not accept the license, “they will be unable to obtain Arm-compliant chips from 2025 forward,” Qualcomm alleged.
•Vertical Freedom movie is available on Apple Itunes. More information on the movie is at https://verticalfreedomthemovie.com/
Industry Events
Let’s Talk broadband event on November 9th, 2022, in Columbus, Ohio. Several vendors, folks from WISPA, and others are slated to attend.
Tech Items
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2022 breaks records.
•OpenSSL patch released.
Sponsor FD-IX
Peering, Interconnection, and multi-site connectivity visit fd-ix.com
The Patreon edition of PDR came out last night for further reading.
Packets Down Range (PDR). Please consider becoming a sponsor by advertising or becoming a Patreon or donating any amount via Paypal for additional content. #packetsdownrange packetsdownrange.com
