Packets Down Range #41: New Cogent Route, The Hedge, GPC and Ritter Communications
Welcome to Packets Down Range #41.
What makes a good data center?
A good data center is not about lobby photos or vendor language. It is about clean power, working cooling, clear cable paths, useful remote hands, and gear that can be repaired without fighting the building.
What is the difference between latency and Jitter
Latency is the time a packet takes to make the trip. Jitter is the swing between packets. One makes the path feel far away. The other makes voice, video, gaming, and remote desktop feel broken.
Tags: jitter, latency, network troubleshooting, packet loss, QoS, ISP networks, wireless networks, network
Data Center Fabrics High Level Overview
A data center fabric connects servers, storage, and network devices using a leaf-spine architecture designed for high bandwidth and predictable latency. Learn how packets move through a fabric, why ECMP matters, and how modern data centers support virtualization, cloud, and AI workloads.
Example BGP Configuration on the Alta Labs Route10
The Alta Labs Route10 includes dynamic routing support through FRRouting (FRR). This article walks through a complete BGP configuration example using private ASNs, a test prefix advertisement, inbound community tagging, and route filtering. It also covers where to access the FRR shell within the Route10 interface and how to verify that the BGP session is operating correctly.
Fiber Optic Cable Colors Explained: Yellow, Orange, Aqua, Green, and More
Fiber optic patch cables come in several colors, each helping identify the fiber type or connector style inside the network. Learn what yellow, orange, aqua, lime green, blue, and green fiber cables typically represent in data centers, ISPs, and telecommunications networks.
How Rain Affects Wireless Microwave Links: 24 GHz, 60 GHz, and 80 GHz Compared
Rain can have a major impact on wireless microwave links, especially as frequencies increase. Learn how rain fade affects 24 GHz, 60 GHz, and 80 GHz circuits, and why fade margin is critical for reliable network design.
Alta Labs releases IpSec “Turbo”
1.5a Released on 06/03/2026 https://forum.alta.inc/t/route10-firmware-1-5a-released/6754
Mikrotik quietly adds features to the Winbox package updates
Mikrotik has added some new features to system…packages as far as updating goes. More info to come soon.
What PoE+++ Is and Why High-Power Ethernet Matters
Learn what PoE+++ is, how 802.3bt increases Ethernet power delivery, and why high-wattage PoE matters for Wi-Fi, cameras, switches, and ISP deployments.
Kids Visit to a Data Center Book is now published
In this book, the character Sam visits a data center and learns about its facilities and operations. My primary aim is to convey information about the real infrastructure powering the modern Internet without making it boring or confusing.
ARIN Consulting, IP Geolocation Corrections, and IPv6 Services
Need help with ARIN requests, IP geolocation corrections, IPv6 planning, or IP address management? Justin Wilson helps ISPs, data centers, and enterprises manage network resources.