Marty Kagan

I went and visited Adi Rozenberg and Limor Touriel at their booth to have a conversation about observability. I often hear how frustrated people get when trying to migrate their media distribution to a terrestrial-only approach. They try to compare it to satellite — especially when it comes to how easy it is to isolate issues. With satellite delivery, you have a finite set of components. If you’re feeding 300 sites and 299 are receiving correctly, you know it’s a localized issue. If multiple sites are affected, it’s often weather in a specific region. If none are receiving, it’s likely the uplink or the satellite. 👉 In short: you know where to look. With terrestrial distribution, it becomes a black box. When it works, content shows up like magic. When it doesn’t — nobody knows why. People often refer to ARQ protocols as miracle fixers. Don’t get me wrong — they’re great at recovering from packet loss under the right conditions (with proper buffering). But what they can’t do is create bandwidth where there simply isn’t enough. You might need bonding or multi-path strategies for certain sites — but how do you know which ones? You may get basic alarms — TR 101 290, a myriad of Grafana dashboards — but those just tell you something’s wrong, not where or why. Are all these alarms linked? Or do you have multiple, unrelated failures? 👉 You’ve lost visibility. You’ve lost control. And when that happens, your best strategy becomes hope. This is where AlvaLinks changes the game. If you’re planning a large-scale terrestrial migration — with hundreds of sites — the AlvaLink observability platform is the only way I know to truly regain control. 🔍 What AlvaLinks gives you: ✅ Score-driven assessments for every path ✅ Correlated event visibility (is this one issue or many?) ✅ Predictive insights before your content is impacted ✅ A way to look inside the black box ✅ Visibility. Control. Revenue protection. You can take proactive action, instead of waiting for complaints or alarms that lack context. In my view, there’s no other way to gain the same level of confidence and visibility that satellite systems inherently provide. If we want to do terrestrial migrations right — we need observability. And AlvaLinks delivers that. 📍Come visit AlvaLinks at NAB2025 — Booth W1361 #BroadcastEngineering #MediaDistribution #ARQ #Observability #IPMedia #Intelsat #AlvaLink #NAB2025 #MediaTechnology

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The FCC’s recent NPRM proposing to forbear on the requirement for TDM interconnection is another clear signal that the transition to all-IP voice networks is accelerating. This direction isn’t surprising. The industry has been moving away from legacy circuit-switched infrastructure for years. Maintaining TDM indefinitely isn’t economically sustainable, and modernization is necessary. STIR/SHAKEN and NG911 require IP to function realize their full potential. If TDM interconnection obligations are removed without a defined framework for what replaces them, we risk unintentionally pushing intercarrier voice traffic onto the public internet, a network built on best-effort delivery, not carrier-grade performance. I realize that a lot of voice traffic is already using the public internet, but in most circumstances the carriers have redundant TDM connections to protect against failure. That creates real concerns: Reliability & Quality of Service - The public internet does not guarantee latency, jitter, or packet loss standards. Voice, particularly 911 and other critical communications, requires deterministic performance. Resiliency & Accountability - When voice traverses unmanaged public routes, outage responsibility becomes blurred. In disaster scenarios, engineered interconnection matters. Security & Fraud Exposure - Expanding interconnection over the public internet increases vulnerability. DDoS attacks, SIP-based fraud, spoofing, traffic pumping, and other threats become harder to contain when trusted network boundaries erode. Rather than simply forbearing TDM obligations, a more constructive path would be: Establish a clear framework for carrier-grade Ethernet interconnection first - Defined performance metrics - SLAs and monitoring standards - Clear demarcation and accountability - Encouragement of private or direct IP interconnects instead of unmanaged public transit - Require redundant paths for all interconnections Then formalize IP interconnection standards - SIP interoperability requirements - Security expectations (including authentication frameworks) - Traffic management and dispute processes Interconnection isn’t just a technical matter. It underpins universal service, call completion, public safety, and competitive neutrality. Modernization is a necessary goal but we should strive to maintain performance. If we’re moving to an all-IP voice network, and we are, let’s ensure we build the Ethernet and IP interconnection framework intentionally, rather than allowing the public internet to become the default intercarrier transport mechanism by omission. Simply forbearing on TDM interconnect could lead to this exact scenario. The technology shift is important. Preserving reliability, accountability, and public trust is essential.

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📡 The rise of Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) The pace at which NTN is moving into the mainstream is honestly remarkable. According to a recent GSA report: https://lnkd.in/eRM_xPVe 👉 170+ operator–satellite partnerships across ~80 countries 👉 34 operators have already launched commercial NTN services A few things that really stand out to me: ✦ Ka-band is still dominant… but S-band and L-band are growing fast, especially for direct-to-cell and IoT. ✦ The real gap isn’t spectrum or regulation — it’s hardware performance. RF front-ends that can cope with Doppler, power limits, payload constraints, integration… that’s where the challenge is. ✦ The hybrid terrestrial + NTN model looks more viable every day. Even modest data rates could be transformational for rural and infrastructure-weak regions. From my RF & antenna perspective, what excites me most is how quickly 3GPP Rel-17 / 18 / 19 are aligning with these hardware challenges. That overlap creates a genuine opportunity for teams who can deliver solutions that are not just clever on paper, but robust and actually deployable at scale. 👉 What do you think? Which geographies or use-cases will benefit first as NTN matures? #NTN #5G #WirelessInnovation #SatelliteConnectivity #Telecom #ORAN

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Right now, in competitive FTTH markets, the incentive structure favors speed. Long-term operational viability tends to surface later. There’s a land grab happening in FTTH. Everyone wants passings. Everyone wants scale. Everyone wants to secure territory before someone else does. So teams get creative. They skip pre-positioning drop infrastructure. They may defer terminal installs. They assume aerial access will resolve as easily as it did in prior regions or projects. They price underground builds from spreadsheets instead of soil conditions. Some of it looks smart in the moment. It accelerates deployment metrics. It protects cost per passing. It keeps capital flowing. But here’s what the market eventually reveals: If you build primarily for near-term metrics instead of long-term operations, the tradeoffs surface over time. Operational shortcuts don’t disappear. They compound. They show up in O&M costs. They show up in customer experience. They show up in municipal relationships. They show up in valuation discussions. Speed matters. Operational durability matters more. The builders who win won’t just be the fastest. They’ll be the ones who built networks someone actually wants to operate and monetize.

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Some key NG9-1-1 transition drivers are beginning to align. The FCC’s recent actions permitting copper retirement, coupled with the requirement to deliver 9‑1‑1 traffic in IP format upon request, are accelerating the shift away from legacy architectures. Amid these and other operational, policy, and marketplace dynamics, states and local ECCs are facing growing incentives to advance NG9-1-1 readiness. In that context, I noticed with interest AT&T’s announced offering of Transitional 9-1-1, which appears to reflect these converging developments. Taken together, these drivers point to a 2026 landscape where NG9‑1‑1 ESInet and core services rollouts may evolve in both pace and approach. Interested in how others are seeing this unfold.

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You can't fix what you can't see—and partial visibility simply isn't enough anymore. 👀 In today's intricate environments, conventional network monitoring tools are insufficient. Our newest article delves into why integrating flow data with performance metrics and service state is not merely a "nice to have," but essential for contemporary NetOps. 🔗 Read the full post:

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🚀 ORKID in Real-Time Execution 84 routes built across 22 pairs and 5 protocols. 70 live arbitrage opportunities above $0 net floor. All discovered in under 60 seconds. 🧠 Multi-Armed-Bandit-Beam search ⚙️ Gas-aware execution 🦀 Rust-based encoder for split-path routing Current blocker: split percentage must be less than 100%. Once patched, this node starts printing. There’s already one name rising in FinTech 3.0, and it’s already here, ORKID. #FinTech #DeFi #QuantFinance #AITrading #ORKID

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Do Customers Really See Value in "Free" Promotions? We’ve all been drawn in by free offers. But, do "free things" really hold lasting value for consumers? Studies show that offers framed as “$0” frequently outperform those labeled “free,” especially among cost‑conscious buyers, because “$0” directs attention to cost saved, making the promotion feel more tangible and valuable (sciencedirect.com). Broader research into the “zero‑price effect” reveals consumers often suspend rational cost‑benefit thinking and default to the no‑cost option with surprising enthusiasm (buynomics.com). However, the value derived from free incentives is highly situational and hinges on the customer's perception. For example, some prominent Cable and MVNO companies have offered free mobile lines with internet plans, often seeing a short‑term spike in net adds and bundling appeal. However, research suggests these gains may erode when the promotion ends. The reason: If subscribers never ported their number or never fully used the “free” line, the freebie can feel value-less, leaving customers vulnerable to churn once the paid billing cycle begins. The takeaway? A free or $0 offering can kickstart engagement and sign‑ups, but sustainable value requires companies to follow‑through: Ensuring users actively adopt the service, understand its benefits, and feel compelled to stay after the incentive fades. Without that focus, free lines can become nothing more than expensive incentives with short‑lived gains and zero customer loyalty.

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Interoperability Is the New Infrastructure In a crisis, communication breakdowns can cost more than any hardware failure. Interoperability isn’t a buzzword — it’s the backbone of resilience. Every agency, every system, every data stream, must be able to talk to one another when seconds matter most. We see time and again with most after action reports, that communication failures prevented an effective response. See Hurricanes Katrina, Maria, etc. and most recently see Kerr Co. Texas. It’s time to treat interoperability as infrastructure — because without connection, there is no coordination. #Interoperability #Resilience #DataSharing #EmergencyManagement https://bit.ly/3Wq0XEt https://bit.ly/3J21QQI

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Bold move, Michael—AI demands nothing less than a full-scale reinvention. Many talk disruption, but few actually commit top-to-bottom. Curious, though: how prepared are broadband providers to fully leverage your platform? Are they ready to disrupt their own processes as aggressively as Calix just disrupted itself? 2025 will indeed be revealing.

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The IBM/Confluent acquisition is a clear signal that real-time streaming is now foundational to enterprise AI. But it also raises a tough question: what happens when openness and independence become absorbed into a single vendor’s stack? If you're concerned about how this impacts you, I recommend this resource from Cloudera that explains the benefits of an independent, managed, containerized alternative: https://shorturl.at/LYcwD

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We shipped 100,000 ISP-tagged IPs, 100 Gbps of internet transit, and 30 physical servers for one enterprise data team. Not a slide. Not a promise. A live system moving traffic today. Read that again. Most vendors sell access. We deliver ownership. Here is why that matters. ISP-tagged IPs are not rented scraps. They belong to a real network. They announce cleanly on the public internet. They behave like native infrastructure because they are. I have seen teams burn months chasing “large pools” that collapse under load. This one didn’t. It held. Now the transit. 100 Gbps is not a talking point. It is raw headroom. It means the pipes stay open when demand spikes. It means no silent throttling when things get busy. That capacity came online day one. No warm-up period. No excuses. Then the servers. Thirty dedicated machines. No neighbors. No shared risk. Each box exists to do one job well and keep doing it. The result is simple. The data team runs at full speed. Routing stays stable. Addresses stay clean. Operations stop breaking at scale. I will be blunt. Most infrastructure companies sell hope. HypeProxies ships outcomes. If you need proof, this deployment is it. If your data team is hitting scale walls and needs real infrastructure, reach out for a free data assessment and we’ll tell you if this setup even makes sense for you. #DataInfrastructure #dataops #IPTransit #InfrastructureEngineering #IPTransit #BareMetal #colocation #Datacenter #ISP

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Is open RAN dead? We've been asking that question for a long time. It depends on who you ask. But considering it's in operators' RFPs, I think it's safe to say it's "arrived." “I think we should see the evolution of the RAN as a continuous, incremental process, rather than changing everything overnight,” said Monica Paolini, principal at the analyst/consulting firm Senza Fili. “In that sense, it gives me a sense that things are much more under control in terms of cost, performance and risk.” Yigal Elbaz Alok Shah Masum Mir Cristina Rodriguez Aji Ed Joe Constantine Monica Paolini https://lnkd.in/gpvPE84V

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This was a really fun podcast to record with Geoff Hollingworth & William Webb, updating where we are with #6Greset, what’s happening with #5G traffic growth (or lack of it), #telecoms predictions for 2026 and much more. We also talked a bit about the nature of the telecoms industry and its attitude to monetising networks, developing standards for #6G and AI. I came up with an analogy that I think is going to get reused a fair bit. Basically, when it comes to things like AI-native 6G and distributed compute, the telecom industry is like a kid in a car with a toy steering wheel. Lots of “brum-brum” noises but not actually in control of the vehicle’s speed or direction. 6G will certainly rely on AI tools… although the exact depth and mechanisms are not yet agreed. But the idea that the mobile industry and concepts like AI-RAN will somehow fundamentally redesign the overall nature of AI infrastructure and datacenters / distributed compute itself is wrong. (Not quite as wrong as #spacedatacenters though). 6G needs AI. AI doesn’t need 6G. Geoff already created an image & I’ve had a go myself. There’s probably a meme there somewhere too! Podcast link (it’s organised by Rakuten Symphony) is here, with LinkedIn Live comment stream: https://lnkd.in/eJDhG-A6

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The telecom stack wasn't meant to be duct tape. Too many platforms, too many "agnostic" tools that never really fit. In this vlog, I break down the "freedom to build" on a single foundation. Also, why providers are consolidating billing, UC, CC, and provisioning under one roof to regain control of the margin. One recent migration cut operating costs by about 28% and reduced onboarding time by about 40%. No swivel-chair. One System. https://lnkd.in/e7AgMZxn #MSP #CSP #UCaaS #Billing #Operations  P2P Labs & P2P Tech Services

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This morning’s deep dive into Quality of Service (QoS) was a clear reminder of how essential it is to maintain performance and reliability in networked systems. what i deducted · QoS isn’t just about bandwidth—it’s about intelligently prioritizing traffic to ensure critical applications run smoothly, especially under load. · Mechanisms like traffic classification, queuing, and policing help manage delay, jitter, and packet loss. · Without QoS, voice, video, and real-time data can degrade, impacting user experience and business operations. In today’s hybrid and cloud-heavy environments, implementing thoughtful QoS policies is no longer optional—it’s foundational for consistent service delivery. What strategies are you using to manage network performance? #QualityOfService #QoS #Networking #ITInfrastructure #NetworkManagement #TechLearning

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