The Network Engineers Quietly Keeping the Internet Running

The internet does not stay reliable by accident, and most ISP teams only see one side of the system. In this episode of Bandwidth, Rick Seemann and Larry Weidig sit down with Jonathan Black, Executive Director of NANOG, to unpack the engineer-led, vendor-neutral organization helping keep the broader internet open, secure, and resilient. If you operate a broadband network and want a better understanding of what happens beyond your upstream connection, this conversation gives you a practical look at the resources, history, and infrastructure that matter.

The team explores how NANOG grew out of the early internet, why its content is selected by engineers for engineers, what makes its vendor-neutral model valuable, and how AI is already changing the infrastructure side of networking. They also dig into why educational communities like this still matter, how network engineers solve problems in real time, and where broadband operators can go to keep leveling up.

In this episode, you will learn:

• What NANOG is and why it matters to broadband operators
• How network engineers use NANOG’s events, presentations, and mailing list
• Why vendor-neutral, engineer-led education still matters in broadband
• How AI is already affecting network infrastructure and monitoring
• What ISP teams can learn from the people working beyond the upstream connection 

Explore how broadband operators can better understand the wider internet, tap into engineer-led resources, and think more clearly about where networking is headed next.

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