International Network Maps

Internet infrastructure and networks change so much, and the media reports on them are so sketchy, that it can be hard to really keep up with who does what and where they do it.  Paid services like those of Telegeography make a good living off of that ambiguity, but sometimes we don’t need that much power.  Simple, centralized repositories of public information like the metro fiber provider list I have been keeping and the CDN provider list Dan Rayburn keeps are a way of keeping track of a sector independent of the media and PR spin our world runs on nowadays.  Therefore, I will be adding additional lists here on Telecom Ramblings for the subjects I care about.  Today I am posting a listing of links to international network maps.  Others may follow, topics might include North American longhaul networks, European longhaul networks, data center providers, et cetera.

I have always been drawn to maps, whether they be of highways or mountain ranges, or in this case fiber and IP backbones and POPs.  Back during the telecom nuclear winter when it seemed like all the fiber on the planet was for sale at pennies on the dollar,  I used to pore over them imagining what one might piece together out of the rubble.   But it took a fair amount of effort to find them in the first place, even as Google search took over the web – you had to know where to look and you had to do it one by one.   To make such a survey a bit easier, here is the first swing at such a table.  In general, I’m trying to isolate a list networks which maintain a truly credible international focus.  To that end, the specific criteria I am starting with are that a company’s network must offer substantial data or transport services a) on at least three continents, or b) continent-wide in both the US and Europe.  My initial list of companies with links to their respective network maps is below.   If you can think of any others that should be on this list, please leave a comment.

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AT&T		Interactive Tour
British Telecom		Network Maps
Cable & Wireless		Global Network Map
Cogent Communications		Network Map
Deutsche Telecom		Interactive Network Map
France Telecom/Orange		Network Coverage
Global Crossing		Interactive Map
Level 3 Communications		Network Map
NTT Communications		Global IP Network
PCCW Global		Global IP Map
Sprint Nextel		Global IP Map
Reliance Globalcom		Interactive Map
Tata Communications		Global Footprint Map
Telefonica		Global IP Network
Teliasonera		IP Backbone
Telstra		Global Map
Tiscali		Global IP Map
Verizon Business		Network Map

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Presence on this list says nothing about at what level each company owns and operates their assets, there is just too much variation to attempt such a classification here.   I have created a permanent page for this list and future updates to it, you can access it from the top menu of this blog under the More button.

Once again, this sort of list requires both a) an organizer (i.e. me), and b) updates and pointers from readers to take it beyond my own biases and blind spots.  So any and all suggestions are welcome!

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Categories: Internet Backbones