The Namex Annual Meeting 2025 (#NAM2025), one of the most anticipated events in the Italian telecommunications panorama, has just ended. The event took place in the suggestive setting of the Gazometro, symbol of post-industrial Rome that looks with optimism to the future and digital.
In addition to being a crucial moment of meeting and networking for the national telco sector, the NAM has always been an opportunity to take stock of the hottest topics of the moment. This year, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Namex, the guiding thread has been the power of the Internet: in which direction is it going? Is he making our lives better or harder?
Internet as the Sixth Power
The title of this edition, “The Sixth Power,” has been carefully chosen. Unlike the most well-known constitutional powers and cinematic references to the fourth (“Citizen Kane”) and fifth power (“Network”), there is not yet a film dedicated to this “sixth” power: the Internet. Yet today, never before, there is debate about the role that the net plays in our lives, between opportunities and threats.
What has become of the Internet since 1995? Has its growth been linear or discontinuous? Is it really a tool for freedom or is it becoming increasingly vulnerable to external influences, censorship and control?
During the panels and workshops of NAM2025, these questions have found space in high-level discussions, able to combine strategic vision, cultural reflection and technical depth.
Internet: For Better or For Worse?
The ambivalence of the power of the net has become clear. On the one hand, the internet for worse is represented by three worrying dynamics:
- Global digital fragmentation: with governments increasingly inclined to control and restrict network access.
- The contrast between technological sovereignty and digital solidarity: innovation often translates into digital protectionism, to the detriment of cooperation.
- The geopolitical use of AI: surveillance, censorship, information manipulation threaten democracy and digital rights.
On the other hand, however, the Internet for better is tangible and concrete: exponentially growing interconnections, new technologies, rapid access to information, strengthening human and professional relations. Just think that, if in 2004 Namex celebrated the exceeding of 1 Gbps of traffic, today we talk about more than 1 Tbps.
As always, it all depends on where you choose to look. As the event’s claim states: it is up to us to decide whether we are observers or observed.
Panels: from space to submarine cables
The morning of NAM2025 hosted two major panels.
The first one, “What’s happening to the submarine cables?” , with guests such as Enrico Maria Bagnasco (CEO – Sparkle), Renato Brunetti (CEO – Unitirreno), Antonio Deruda (expert in digital geopolitics) and Serafino Sorrenti (CISO – Presidency of the Council of Ministers), addressed the security and geopolitics of digital backbones.
The second, “Space Geopolitics,” was a journey into Earth’s orbit with Paolo Nespoli (ESA astronaut), Tommaso Ghidini (ESA) and Luca Rossettini (CEO of D-Orbit), to understand how satellite communications are changing the map of global Internet access.
Two seemingly distant worlds – the sea floor and space – are proving to be crucial in keeping the planet connected.
FibreConnect workshop: Connect IP Transit
In the afternoon, the program was enriched with technical workshops, including our “Connect IP Transit: anatomy of an NFV ecosystem serving SDN Carrier Grade solutions”, led by Alessandro Predieri (CIO) and Giuseppe Marrone (Master Consultant).
During our talk, we presented:
- the architecture of the Connect IP Transit platform, illustrating its pillars:
- programmability (thanks to SDN)
- Orchestrability (via NFV)
- Digital sovereignty (core technology made in the EU)
- Agility, reliability, security and scalability
The burst management mode:
- burst shared: up to twice the contracted bandwidth, without billing
- guaranteed burst: with guaranteed availability, invoiced according to the 95th percentile
- VFN-enabled services such as vBRaaS, vBNGaaS, advanced L3 services and portable solutions anywhere.
The workshop ended with a lively Q&A session, which stimulated discussion and networking among participants, consolidating the value of technical dialogue within the community.
This year, the NAM has confirmed itself as an essential event for those working in the world of networks. FibreConnect participated enthusiastically, sharing expertise, ideas and visions for the future of connectivity.
The Internet continues to evolve under conflicting pressures. But events like this give us a certainty: the key to progress is in our hands – in the way we choose to build, use and protect the network.
Tags: FTTH, NAM2025, namex meeting, workshop