Risk Academy, a Nexortium programmeInfrastructure, Energy and IndustryDepartment of Utility Networks

Networks, cables, exchanges and data centres the digital economy runs on

Telecommunications and digital infrastructure

The digital economy rests on a physical layer: masts, fibre, exchanges, data centres and the subsea cables that carry most intercontinental traffic.

risksacademy.cominfrastructure-energydiscipline

Telecommunications and digital infrastructure, drawn as grid lifelines: 0 primary courses open, 0 in preparation, 0 approved for authoring and 0 also taught here, across 9 subtopics. Courses: none yet.
Telecommunications and digital infrastructure at a glance. Drawn as grid lifelines.
  • Open, 0
  • In preparation, 0
  • Subtopics, 9
Course codes from the curriculum; study levels L1 to L4.
Twin builder and simulatorWellington and its harbour4 twin generators, 11 layers, 2 instruments
courses open now
0
in preparation
0
subtopics in its scope
9
buildings in the box
83,815

Twin figures for Wellington and its harbour, counted from its layers at their stated dates.

Twin builder and simulator.

For Telecommunications and digital infrastructure: the faculty's twin of Wellington on the planet map, the globe and in 3D. Pick a generator, switch layers, run the instruments; every layer prints its provider and date.

Wellington and its harbour: a flat plan of the faculty twin. Terrain 0 to 523 m; 83,815 buildings in the box; 5,085 footprints in the core, 2,796 with an estimated height; Roads 176 km; Rail 99 km; 57 substations; 4 port; 2 airport; 5 hospitals; 8 railway stations; 4 water works; 2 power plants, 202 MW. Contours every 100 metres from the elevation grid; buildings as counts per cell; roads and rail by class; lifeline assets as marks; power plants as marks.
Wellington and its harbour, New Zealand. Flat plan of the same data. The 3D twin opens on devices with WebGL once its data and library have been checked; the numbers are the same either way.
  • Terrain 0 to 523 m
  • 83,815 buildings in the box
  • 5,085 footprints in the core, 2,796 with an estimated height
  • Roads 176 km
  • Rail 99 km
  • 57 substations
  • 4 port
  • 2 airport
  • 5 hospitals
  • 8 railway stations
  • 4 water works
  • 2 power plants, 202 MW
Credits and dates per layer are listed under the stage. Relief in the twin is exaggerated ×1.5 for legibility.

Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and - zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.

Flat plan of the same data. The 3D twin opens on devices with WebGL once its data and library have been checked; the numbers are the same either way.

The map loads from this site as it nears the view (MapLibre 6.9.1, checked by hash).

The discipline in brief.

The discipline teaches access, mobile and backbone networks, subsea cables and their landing stations, internet exchange points and routing, data centres with their power and cooling, satellite links, and the timing and electricity every one of them needs, with route diversity and repair capacity as the core resilience measures. Repeated cable damage in the Baltic and the Red Sea since 2023 made repair ship capacity a security question, and the IEA projects fast growth in data centre power demand. A graduate can map a network's single points of failure and plan the diversity that removes them.

This area covers the physical networks of the digital economy: access and mobile networks, backbones, subsea cables, internet exchange points and data centres, and their dependence on power, timing and repair capacity. It is taught in the department of Utility Networks, Faculty of Infrastructure, Energy and Industry, through courses still to be authored.

What the discipline covers.

9 subtopics, taught across its courses and labs.

Courses
0 open, 0 in preparation
Levels
None yet
Labs
Named when the courses are authored
  • Access, mobile and backbone networks
  • Subsea cables, landing stations and repair capacity
  • Internet exchange points and routing
  • Data centres, power and cooling
  • Satellite communications
  • Dependence on power and timing
  • Network redundancy and route diversity
  • Emergency communications
  • Regulation of telecom resilience

The faculty hub.

News and research as they are published, per discipline, with the faculty's other tools.

The newest research, preprints, news and humanitarian reports for Telecommunications and digital infrastructure, each with its source and date, load here. Open the research and news hub

No course yet.

No course has this as its primary discipline yet. It is listed so the gap stays visible.

Courses also taught here and the connected disciplines teach the methods it will build on.

What you can earn here.

  1. Course achievements

    One for each of the 0 courses with this primary discipline, when you pass its assessed activities; 0 can be earned now.

Achievements record learning completed here; they do not certify competence. How recognition works.

How technology helps and what risk it brings.

AspectIn this area
Technology that helpsDigital twins, sensors and robotics for inspection.
Risk technology createsCascading cyber-physical failure and vendor lock-in.
  • RAT-263 Digital Twins for Risk: Design, Validation and Limits Approved for authoring
  • RAT-261 OT/ICS and Critical Infrastructure Cyber Resilience Approved for authoring
  • RAS-407 Critical Infrastructure Interdependency and Resilience Engineering In preparation

No ecosystem page yet.

No ecosystem page covers this subject yet. A page has been requested; no loosely related page is cited in its place.

The two Foundry systems where it is practised.

  • Nexus FoundryNET systemCommunications networks must stay up under outage or attackContinuity room, Topology room
  • SIG systemNetworks depend on timing and spectrumSpectrum room

Nexus Foundry system pages describe what each system and its rooms are designed to do; they are not a service on offer, and studying here gives no access to them.

Terms used on this page.

Telecommunications and digital infrastructure

Prepare with a related course.

Open courses in connected disciplines teach the methods this discipline will build on.

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