Panel: The New Rules of Network Design#

Rajesh Sennik (Roland Berger), Vilas Thawale (Tata Communications, Subsea Networks), Tony O'Sullivan (RETN), John Fitzgibbon (AWS), Younès Stouky (Orange Wholesale)

• Why: This addresses a real shift in the PM's core domain: network topology and interconnect decisions increasingly driven by security mandates, sovereignty, and geopolitical risk rather than pure efficiency. The panellist mix (AWS network planning + Tata subsea + Orange wholesale + RETN) spans both sides of that tension.
• What: How security, resilience, and sovereignty requirements are changing where networks are routed, where facilities are located, and how networks interconnect — and the cost/trade-off consequences across fibre, datacentres, and subsea (from abstract only).
• Why it matters / What it implies for design: routing and peering decisions now carry a threat model, not just a latency model — directly relevant to network-security-informed design.
• Where applicable: European and global carrier networks; the sovereignty constraints discussed are EU-specific, the routing/resilience logic is general. Executive-level discussion; expect direction, not design methodology.