The 12 most popular newsletters of all time

This week will be the final week of the Network Architecture newsletter as penned by me. Before we say goodbye in Thursday’s issue, I’d like to take a fond look back at the biggest hits.

First, a caveat. Years ago, we used to showcase the entire article in the body of the e-mail newsletter, so I have no way of knowing how popular those newsletters really were with readers. All I know is how many people clicked to read my newsletters in the online archive. Since we converted to a format where you have to click to read the full article, I can see the total page views much more clearly. With that in mind, here we go:

12. ATM LAN Emulation basics. This one is from 1999, near the beginning of my newsletter run. Google must have decided it was a good resource on the topic and directed searches toward it. If anyone is still searching on “ATM LAN Emulation,” lo and behold, you’ll find this is the first result.

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This week will be the final week of the Network Architecture newsletter as penned by me. Before we say goodbye in Thursday’s issue, I’d like to take a fond look back at the biggest hits.

First, a caveat. Years ago, we used to showcase the entire article in the body of the e-mail newsletter, so I have no way of knowing how popular those newsletters really were with readers. All I know is how many people clicked to read my newsletters in the online archive. Since we converted to a format where you have to click to read the full article, I can see the total page views much more clearly. With that in mind, here we go:

12. ATM LAN Emulation basics. This one is from 1999, near the beginning of my newsletter run. Google must have decided it was a good resource on the topic and directed searches toward it. If anyone is still searching on “ATM LAN Emulation,” lo and behold, you’ll find this is the first result.

11. Breakthrough enables Terabit Ethernet. Taking Ethernet even faster is a topic that was always popular with readers.

10. What the heck are you doing on the Internet at that hour? I found this study fascinating.

9. Is Google rolling its own 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches? It occurs to me this is a two-year-old article. Could use an update.

8. Copper theft is incredibly widespread. Remember when they used to make pennies out of this stuff?

7. The Internet has shifted under our feet. Another fascinating study, and underreported.

6. Metcalfe talks Terabit Ethernet. 2015, baby.

5. Stimulus bill aims for ‘national broadband plan’. Look for continued coverage on Network World about how the broadband stimulus money is being spent.

4. D-Link adapters run Ethernet over coax. Another one that does pretty well with certain Google searches.

3. Google M-Lab provides a window into your ISP. These are interesting tools. Thanks for the reminder.

2. D-Link sends Ethernet over power lines at 200Mbps. An alternative to your vanilla Wi-Fi.

1. Denon’s outrageous price for Ethernet cable. I wasn’t the first to report this, but the community on Digg.com discovered it and made it my all-time biggest hit.

We’ll see you one more time later this week.

Read more about lans & wans in Network World's LANs & WANs section.