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In Today’s Issue

The Podcast

Episode 7 - All about the Model Context Protocol (MCP) - John Capobianco, Selector.AI

In this episode, I discuss the buzz around the Model Context Protocol (MCP) with John Capobianco, exploring its implications for AI integration and network observability. Think of MCP as the USB of AI Integration.

This is a "must watch/listen" for anyone wanting to understand more about MCP and its impact on all aspects of AI.

(Watch the episode with Video at https://lnkd.in/gi2FxTpB)

We delve into the concept of vibe coding, the practical applications of MCP in networking, and the future of technology with this new protocol.

The conversation highlights the potential for innovation, and the transformative impact of MCP on pretty much any aspect of day-to-day life.

We get into MCP repositories, live examples of how MCP is used, how to get started with MCP, some security concerns and, of course, what we can expect in the future.

As always, I had a great time speaking with and learning from John. This stuff is cool.

Subscribe, download and like on the Podcast player of choice or:

Spotify - https://lnkd.in/g9MbqHMV
Apple - https://lnkd.in/gRP5V8Rj

What’s Happening On Earth?

T-Mobile appears to be testing Nokia's 6G equipment - T-Mobile plans to test Nokia equipment in the 7GHz band to 'support the advancement of potential future wireless technologies.' That's likely a nod to forthcoming 6G technologies.

My Take: 6G on 7G.. and 8G. Gee. I clearly have nothing to add.

🇨🇦 Rogers’ 3G customers to face $3 ‘legacy’ charge as company plans to retire network - Starting in May, those who rely on Rogers’ 3G and 2G networks will face a monthly “legacy network usage” charge of $3, the company said.

My Take: Apparently other carriers in Canada have similar plans in place. Here’s a thought. Get a new burner phone.

🇨🇦 Bell Lobbies Federal Regulator to Exclude Starlink from Northern Canada Internet Subsidies - Bell Canada and its northern subsidiary, Northwestel, are lobbying the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to exclude SpaceX’s Starlink from a subsidy program intended to expand internet access in Canada’s remote northern regions.

Canada’s largest telecom is duking it out with SpaceX, insisting Starlink and Elon Musk shouldn’t be eligible for millions in subsidies

My Take: So many articles have been written about the price of existing services in the north. Is this a legitimate complaint, or another dig at Starkink? I see both sides of the argument.

Google Cloud WAN wants to simplify global networking - The opening is under Google Cloud’s new Cloud WAN service, which takes advantage of Google Cloud’s extensive managed network backbone that it uses for its house-branded services. That backbone network spans more than two million miles of fiber, includes 33 subsea cables, and touches 202 points of presence (PoPs) worldwide.

My Take: ..and, they want the network to be L5 TM-forum compliant. See the next article.

Google wants to make its 2M-mile fiber network fully autonomous by year’s end - Google is in the process of upgrading the entirety of its sprawling fiber network. The goal is to achieve Level 5 autonomous operation by the end of this year. AI agents - not humans - will be steering the ship.

My Take: AI agents will be in charge of everything from capacity planning and inventory systems to root cause analysis and ensuring network redundancy. The network will be divided into “shards” that can be spun down, repaired and spun back up in isolation. They’ve taken the modular OS model and applied it to the network, I think. It’s certainly interesting.

Why BEAD presents a foundational question for states and cities - If we are to treat broadband as essential infrastructure, then we must ensure that public BEAD investments result in long-term public value.

My Take: Yes.

Starlink and DOGE: The $42 Billion Conflict of Interest in Rural Broadband - This combination casts doubt on the government's ability to be truly 'technology neutral'. 

My Take: Beyond conflict of interest, is it about saving some money initially, or spending money for the long term. Pay me now, or pay me again later. And then again later.

🇨🇦 DZS gets a lifeline - Canada's MNSi has inked a deal to acquire the assets of DZS, which recently filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and shut down its US operations. MNSi wants to pick up the ball and form a new US-based company called Zhone.

My Take: There must be some great exit plan here somewhere.

Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Huawei top Gartner data center switch rank - Gartner placed those four vendors in the “leaders” quadrant of its latest “Magic Quadrant for Data Center Switching” ranking. Of the four, Arista showed the highest “ability to execute” mark, while Huawei was pinned to having the most “completeness of vision.”

My Take: Nokia’s been making a lot of noise about Data Centres. Maybe they don’t have enough installed base to rank yet.

🇨🇦 Videotron suing Rogers for $91M over alleged breaches of Freedom sale agreement - Videotron alleges Rogers unjustly enriched itself and owes it “damages for breach of contract, breach of duty of good faith and/or negligent misrepresentation in the amount of $91,000,000.”

My Take: …the documents filed to date don’t outline the specifics.

Wireline is now the most vulnerable to cyber attacks: Netscout - Wireline operators have bigger problems than just clunky legacy infrastructure – they’re also more vulnerable to cybercrime and hackers than their wireless counterparts, according to Netscout.

My Take: Blame AI.

🇨🇦 Why are Canada’s largest telecom companies selling stakes in their core infrastructure? - Canada’s largest three telecoms long maintained it was crucial to own their own infrastructure, even as their global peers sold off their cellphone towers for fortunes. Now, the carriers are in the sizing up those assets for sale, and one just finalized a multibillion-dollar deal, laying the groundwork for its rivals to follow. What changed?

🇨🇦 Rogers to trim debt by selling CAD$7 billion backhaul network stake to Blackstone

My Take: …because they need the cash to pay down debt?

What Apple wants from 6G - Apple’s interest in helping to shape the 6G standards should come as no surprise, especially given the recent advances it has made with its in-house modem design efforts. What may be more surprising is the extent to which the notoriously secretive company is willing to become involved. 

My Take: It’s not about speed. It’s about simplicity, energy efficiency and enhanced user experience. 

Pinpoint - The Fiber Market Report - Q4/2024 - April 10, 2025 - FIBER MARKET UPDATE – Q4 2024

My Take: A lot more data in the report. A lot of interesting data.

What’s Happening In Space?

What’s in Space This Week?

Launch of Amazon's 1st Kuiper internet satellites delayed by bad weather - Bad weather plagued ULA's launch attempt Amazon throughout a two-hour flight window that opened at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT). Launch controllers worked through some technical glitches, but were primarily concerned thick cumulus clouds and rain within 10 miles of the pad, which violated launch weather rules, ULA officials said.

My Take: No new date yet. The competition must be happy.

Maritime operators face May deadline as Starlink terminates unlimited data plans - "Today, we have many vessels using 1 TB in a few days. It’s not sustainable," states Mr Ben Soussia. Overnight, the industry must transition from abundance to constraint. The challenge is particularly acute because maritime digitalisation has accelerated rapidly, with critical operations now dependent on high-bandwidth connections that were previously unthinkable at sea.

My Take: If an industry ever needed competition, this is it.

Ofcom grants NGSO licence to Amazon Kuiper and releases spectrum to boost connectivity - Kuiper is permitted to operate in Ka band frequencies between 27.5-27.9405 GHz, 28.4545-28.9485 GHz, and 29.5-30 GHz.

My Take: Run, Elon. Run.

SES: The Space Shepherd Europe Didn’t Know It Needed - SES is pushing its “multi-orbit” strategy, a fusion of geostationary satellites that are basically sky fossils and MEO satellites that orbit just a bit less sluggishly. The idea is that by offering “reliable coverage” and “global reach,” SES can still matter. Never mind that latency-sensitive applications like video gaming, remote surgery, and, you know, the modern internet, are increasingly leaning toward LEO. SES’s model is essentially the telecommunications equivalent of buying more landlines because smartphones are too mainstream.

My Take: The author doesn’t seem to enamoured with them.

🇨🇦 How satellites help you stay healthy - Good health is a vital element of an active and fulfilling life. Our state of health depends on a variety of factors, including our genetics, diet, lifestyle, age, and access to medical care. Environmental conditions also play a significant role, and we can learn more about them through data produced by Earth observation (EO) satellites.

My Take: Unless they accidentally fall in a field and land on someone’s head. That would’t be healthy.

Viasat Advances Multi-Orbit Services Roadmap - Signs Agreement with Telesat for Incorporating LEO Ka-band into Multi-Orbit Services - The LEO capacity from Telesat Lightspeed will be seamlessly integrated with Viasat’s ultra-high throughput satellites to offer customers fast, highly reliable, robust and cost-effective connectivity services. Those services will be backed by the industry’s most comprehensive Service Level Agreements (SLAs), promoting reliable broadband connections even in the highest demand geographic locations including hub airports, seaports, and other high traffic routes and locations.

My Take: ✔️

Will Apple's satellite ambitions push it into EchoStar's arms? - EchoStar officials have hinted that the company will use its satellite spectrum holdings to pursue the market for phone-to-satellite connections. That could dovetail with Apple's own ambitions in the sector.

My Take: Apple has money. EchoStar needs money.

L3Harris, Kuiper Government Solutions Partner on Resilient Satellite Communications Solutions - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) and Kuiper Government Solutions LLC (KGS), a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), have partnered to deliver integrated, resilient Satellite Communications (SATCOM) solutions to governments and militaries worldwide.

My Take: "The collaboration will focus on innovating and delivering hybrid SATCOM with high-speed and low-latency global connectivity. L3Harris will pair its trusted and resilient global tactical networks and comprehensive communication system technology with KGS’ global satellite network.

NEW MARKET MAP ALERT: Inside India's Rising Space Sector

My Take: Who knew?

Can Amazon's soon-to-launch Kuiper satellites rival Musk's Starlink? - Amazon is aiming to launch its first operational satellites today to provide speedy internet connections in remote regions, but it will still take some time to catch up with its main competitor, SpaceX's Starlink  

My Carousel

My Take: Great video. The launch was scrubbed due to weather.

🇨🇦 Canada must plan for life without Elon Musk’s Starlink - Amid trade and sovereignty threats emanating from the Trump administration, Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband satellite service has become a target of public anger and political debate. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said he would cancel Starlink’s contract.

My Take: Reasonable article with an indigenous focus, I believe. The issue of identifying the truly unconnected is the the challenge. If no one knows where they are, and how many there are, its touch to come up with alternate solutions

Starlink’s Approach to Satellite Demisability - In this update, we describe how Starlink approaches satellite demisability, referring to the process by which satellites are safely decommissioned and deorbited, leaving no debris in space

My Take: “Given, the survival of this satellite component was not consistent with the analysis described in the previous section, the Starlink program is aggressively working to understand whether unique conditions of the anomalous G9-3 deploy could have contributed to how this component survived reentry”

Russia, China target SpaceX’s Starlink in escalating space electronic warfare - As modern warfare becomes increasingly reliant on space-based networks, Russia and China are stepping up efforts to counter the dominance of commercial satellite constellations, particularly SpaceX’s Starlink. The Secure World Foundation (SWF), a nonpartisan policy think tank, detailed these developments in its latest annual report which assesses global counterspace capabilities.

My Take: It’s a 316 page report. I wonder if it can be summarized down to 6 key points.

“Star Wars is now real”: these space lasers funded by DARPA redefine orbital warfare as China fears the rise of unstoppable American satellite defenses - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is spearheading an ambitious initiative to develop space-based laser technology, a move driven by the rising threat posed by nations like China and Russia. This project aims to protect U.S. satellites from potential attacks and enhance communication capabilities.

My Take: So this is scary and interesting at the same time. I wonder if there will be demos on YouTube ;)

China launches TJS-17, expanding classified geostationary satellite series - China launched Thursday what appears to be the third satellite for a subset of classified, experimental satellites bound for geosynchronous orbit.

My Take: its “mainly used to carry out multi-band, high-speed satellite communication technology verification.”

Taiwan Plans To Launch Satellite Communications Network By 2029 - Taiwan plans to establish a satellite communications network in the vein of SpaceX’s Starlink by 2029 but will not work with the Elon Musk-owned company on the project

My Take: Remember that TV show, “Everybody Loves Raymond?” I think we need a new one called “Nobody likes Elon”.

Seeing the light: Cubesats share optical data - Within days of each other in late February and early March, the Aerospace Corp. and Spire Global announced similar breakthroughs: demonstrating optical inter-satellite links between cubesats.

My Take: All the cool satellites use optical links.

Brazil gives green light to Starlink satellite expansion - Brazil’s telecoms regulator, Anatel, has granted approval for SpaceX to operate an additional 7,500 Starlink satellites in the country’s airspace.

My Take: This doesn’t make sense, but OK

SpaceX Offers Free Starlink Dishes to Drive Growth Outside US - The offer has been spotted in Australia and Italy for users who commit to a one-year contract.

My Take: Give away the razor, sell the blades. Capture contracted subs before the next guy has a chance. The next guy has a much larger retail ecosystem than SpaceX.

Starlink’s Numbers Could Bring SpaceX’s Valuation Crashing Down - While DOGE dismay has hammered Tesla stock, SpaceX is still flying high with investors as the world’s most valuable private company. But economic realities and the physical limits of beaming internet connectivity from space could puncture the good vibes.

My Take: Clearly, the answer is just more satellites.

Blue Origin faces backlash ahead of historic all-female spaceflight with Katy Perry - During a recent appearance on "TODAY with Jenna & Friends," actress Olivia Munn criticized the private spaceflight mission, questioning its value given the economic hardships facing many people in the U.S. and around the world.

Meet the crew for Blue Origin's upcoming all-female spaceflight with Katy Perry

My Take: “Hot N Cold” reactions to this “E.T.” mission spark debate. Critics say, “This Is How We Do” privilege, while supporters see “Firework” inspiration. Amidst the “Roar,” let’s not forget, “Who Am I Living For?”

Direct To Device

How can mobile operators capture the value of satellite direct-to-device services? - The satellite direct-to-device (D2D) service market continues to progress at an extraordinary pace; Starlink and T-Mobile are launching beta services in the USA, Skylo is partnering with Deutsche Telekom and Verizon, and AST and Lynk are testing, developing technologies and raising more funds. Satellite D2D services promise to eliminate no-coverage zones, thus enhancing subscribers' experience (and safety) and unlocking new business opportunities. However, it is not yet clear if consumers will actually pay for them.

My Take: Emergency messaging and text aren’t the money makers as they’re only going to drive $200M in 2025. The multi-billion opportunity comes from providing voice and data — and the 82% of people churning next year will make a new decision based on the carrier who support it.

Enabling AI

Verizon says Google AI for customer service agents has led to sales jump - Verizon first started deploying the new AI features in July 2024, ramping them up to full scale in January. Sales through its 28,000-person service team are up nearly 40% since their deployment, according to Sampath Sowmyanarayan, CEO of Verizon's consumer group.

My Take: Are the humans just the communication vessel?

SK Telecom spreads its AI net - South Korea’s SK Telecom (SKT), ever keen to position itself as an AI company, has launched new AI-enabled fraud prevention services and unveiled an AI startup competition that will further its engagement with emerging developer talent.   

My Take: Good application of the technology. Correlate everything. Detect and shut it down faster.

ChatGPT’s memory can now reference all past conversations, not just what you tell it to - This new update allows ChatGPT to “draw on past conversations to deliver more relevant and useful responses” and go across all modalities in the platform. Improvements in Memory allow future conversations, not just current chat windows, to reference previous chats. It will only be available for ChatGPT Plus and Pro users.

My Take: Pros and cons, of course. But you can turn it off, so there’s that.

Hyundai to expand robot fleet with tens of thousands Atlas units from Boston Dynamics - South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor Group has entered into a long-term partnership with its US-based robotics subsidiary Boston Dynamics Inc. The collaboration would entail the automaker helping the engineering and robotics design company grow its business by integrating manufacturing capabilities.

My Take: This is what auto manufacturing will look like in the US by the time Trump retools everything, if that even happens. No jobs for the people he thinks he’s helping

Shopify CEO: justify new hires by proving AI can't do the job better - In another example of the impact AI is having on jobs, Shopify's CEO has issued a warning to the company's managers: show that AI can't do the job better than a human before hiring new workers. Shopify previously laid off staff after it started using generative AI to complete some customer support tasks.

My Take: 😳 Wow. Justify the humans.

This and That!

New TCPA Rules: Navigating Opt-Out Changes in Messaging - On April 11, 2025, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will begin enforcing an enhancement to The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regarding the way that consumers revoke consent for voice and messaging business communications.

My Take: That’s why opt-in and Canadian Anti-Spam Laws were enacted in Canada some time ago. Some of the strongest legislation around.

DOGE may be coming for the FCC - The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has reportedly begun to settle in at the FCC. But it's not clear whether that will impact the FCC's operations or Elon Musk's business before the agency.

My Take: Mmmm.. I wonder what Elon would want with the FCC?

🇨🇦 This man lost his life savings to identity fraud. He doesn’t know how it happened - When Rick Hall discovered most of his life savings had been drained from his bank account, he suspected he had been hacked. 

My Take: The scams are getting more complex. AI isn’t helping.

Gmail Is Not a Secure Way to Send Sensitive Comms: A Friendly Reminder - New end-to-end Gmail encryption alone isn't secure enough for an enterprise's most sensitive and prized data, experts say.

My Take: Reminders are good.

Asian hermit spider: The arachnid that gets stronger after ejecting its own penis - Female Asian hermit spiders gobble up their partners after mating, so males detach their penises and sometimes offer up an amputated leg to escape.

My Take: Did you really expect me to see that headline and not share it?

Trump administration's NOAA layoffs affected the space weather service that tracks solar storms - "Decreasing the capacity to support this sector makes our nation less resilient and more vulnerable to space weather."

My Take: I don’t think the word “consequence” lives in the administration anywhere

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: Cool map. Power, fiber. All in the same place.

Podcast Recommendation

Whether we’re interacting with colleagues, clients, friends, family members or strangers, conversations are the way most of us build — or break — relationships. And yet we don’t often think deeply about how to approach this type of casual communication. Alison Wood Brooks, associate professor at Harvard Business School, has studied what it takes to create a great conversation and offers research-backed tips for improving your skills. Brooks is the author of the book Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves.

Listen Here!

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

IMDb: 6.9/10

JMDb: 9/10 (Glorious Carnage, indeed)

Sisu is a 2022 Finnish historical action thriller that delivers a visceral, blood-soaked revenge tale set during the final days of World War II. Directed by Jalmari Helander, the film follows Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), a gold prospector and former military commander who unleashes hell upon a Nazi platoon after they steal his gold.

With minimal dialogue and maximum carnage, Sisu embodies its untranslatable Finnish title—a concept of extraordinary determination when all hope is lost. Tommila delivers a powerhouse performance despite having only one line in the entire film.

The film combines stunning Lapland cinematography with over-the-top action sequences that have drawn comparisons to John Wick, Rambo, and Tarantino's work. Critics praise its refreshingly old-school storytelling approach and impressive special effects achieved on a modest €6 million budget.

A sequel completed filming in late 2024 and is expected to release in 2025.

Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/shareA Word From Our Partner

Until Next Time

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