FEATURE
THE CARRIER GUIDE TO 2023 Traffic, Technology and Unsung Heroes BY MATTIAS FRIDSTRÖM
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ccording to the Chinese Zodiac, 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit. In Chinese culture, rabbits are considered gentle, quiet, elegant and alert. They are responsible, but sometimes reluctant to reveal their thoughts to others - and they have a tendency to escape reality. When encountering difficulties, they are never discouraged, but search persistently for a solution. In many ways, I can’t help but think this is a good metaphor for most telecom companies in our industry. The current climate of high inflation increased geopolitical tension and war in Europe is not going to change any time soon, and there is a need for us all to find solutions for the many challenges we face. Many of these are more complex and quite different in nature to those we are accustomed to. Despite the global turmoil, network traffic has continued to grow, and we see some really interesting technologies maturing. In the face of this, we’ll need to stay focused and relentlessly pursue our mission to ensure reliable, fast, and secure connectivity across the globe. And in keeping with our traditional ‘Top 3’ predictions for the year ahead, here are a few thoughts for 2023.
THE TOP 3 GLOBAL CARRIER INDUSTRY TRENDS 1.
2.
Security is increasingly important. Geopolitical tensions mean that we’ll need to work even harder than before on security concerns. Where previously our security work mainly focused on the logical layers of the network, we now need to be more vigilant throughout the full stack - from the physical ducts and cables to DDoS protection, firewalls and everything in between. Protecting cables from sabotage is no easy feat, but as an industry, we need to find ways of systematically building more resilience into our networks, so we are less vulnerable if something nasty happens. This is priority #1 in 2023. Infrastructure is increasingly important. Traffic growth continues, but with DWDM equipment becoming increasingly tethered by Shannon’s limit (a limit that defines the maximum physical capacity you can push down a single fiber pair), most operators are suddenly in dire need of more fiber on each route in their network. Previously, you could always just replace your current old DWDM gear with the latest state-of-the JANUARY 2023 | ISSUE 128
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