Akamai Technologies, the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere, has released its Second Quarter, 2011 State of the Internet report. Based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform™, which serves as much as 30 percent of the world's Web traffic at any one time, the report provides insight into key global and India statistics such as Internet penetration, mobile traffic and data consumption, origins of attack traffic and SSL usage, and average connection speeds.
Key insights - India
* India was ranked #8 globally in terms of attack traffic origination with 2.7% of observed global attack traffic
* The percentage of broadband connections (connections to Akamai at speeds above 2 Mbps) grew at an impressive 45% quarter over quarter.
* The percentage of narrowband connections (connections to Akamai at speeds below 256 kbps) remains one of the highest globally at 31%
* India’s average connection speed increased 13% quarter over quarter to 844 kbps
Commenting on the report, Sanjay Singh, Managing Director – India, Akamai Technologies, said, “We continue to see encouraging signs of increasing broadband penetration in the country with key metrics such as average broadband speeds and IP addresses, both growing well above 10% sequentially quarter over quarter. The average mobile connectivity speeds in India are also growing at a fast clip and we expect India’s broadband adoption percentage to exceed the 10% threshold from the current 7.1% in the coming year, if these key indicators keep growing at such rates.”
Global Internet Penetration
In the second quarter of 2011, more than 604 million unique IP addresses from 238 countries and regions connected to the Akamai Intelligent Platform. This represents 3.4 percent more IP addresses than connected in the first quarter of 2011, and an increase of 21 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago.
Among those countries listed in the top 10 list for the number of unique IPv4 addresses connecting to the Akamai Intelligent Platform during the quarter, Brazil logged the greatest quarter-over-quarter increase at 9.0 percent, growing to over 15 million IP addresses, with Japan's 8.7 percent growth to nearly 45 million IP addresses a close second. For European countries in the top 10, Italy boasted the greatest quarterly gain at 5.4 percent, growing to just over 14 million IP addresses, while Germany mustered an increase of only 0.4 percent, remaining just below 35 million IP addresses. The United States managed to add only 0.6 percent to its unique IP address count, remaining just below 143.5 million IP addresses.
Mobile Connection Speeds and Data Consumption
In the second quarter of 2011, the average measured connection speed for known mobile providers worldwide ranged from a high of slightly more than 5 Mbps to a low of 209 kbps. Approximately three-quarters of the surveyed providers had average connection speeds above 1 Mbps.
With regard to average peak connection speeds for the 108 mobile providers worldwide for which Akamai analyzed data, the report highlights a range of 23.4 Mbps as the fastest to 1.2 Mbps as the slowest. Of all such mobile providers, three boasted average peak connection speeds above 20 Mbps, 27 achieved average peak connection speeds above 10 Mbps and 47 recorded average peak connection speeds greater than 5 Mbps. Only one mobile provider (located in South Africa) did not record an average peak connection speed above 2 Mbps.
During the second quarter of 2011, mobile consumption figures remained fairly consistent with data from the first quarter. Users at 10 of the surveyed mobile providers consumed an average of 1 GB or more per month from the Akamai platform. Users at 74 of the surveyed providers consumed greater than 100 MB per month of content from Akamai, and users at the remaining 20 providers consumed less than 100 MB per month.
Through its relationship with Ericsson, Akamai continues to include data collected by the equipment provider in the State of the Internet report. According to Ericsson, the volume of mobile data traffic in the second quarter of 2011 doubled year-over-year and grew eight percent quarter-over-quarter.
Attack Traffic and SSL Trends
In the second quarter of 2011, Taiwan generated the most attack traffic observed by Akamai, bumping last quarter's newcomer to the list, Myanmar, to second place. Looking at total observed attack traffic aggregated by region, Asia Pacific/Oceania generated 47 percent of such attack traffic, Europe 30 percent, the Americas 20 percent, and Africa a mere 3 percent.
SSL is widely used across the Web to enable secure communications with social networks, e-commerce sites and financial services applications, to name a few. SSL ciphers help to create these secure connections and are based on well-known encryption algorithms. New to this quarter's report is an examination of trends in SSL ciphers presented by Web clients to the Akamai Secure Content Delivery Network. Since the beginning of 2009, Akamai notes that use of the SSL cipher AES 128-SHA-1 has nearly tripled while the use of SSL cipher RC4-MD5-128 has declined by almost two-thirds. Interpreting the observed trends, as well as data observed for other SSL ciphers, Akamai believes the use of RC4-based ciphers may reach near-zero levels over the next several years. Furthermore, these trends may indicate a shift towards stronger ciphers, which could lead to SSL becoming more secure over time.
Moving to High Broadband Connectivity
In the second quarter of 2011, 27 percent of all connections to the Akamai Intelligent Platform were made at high broadband speeds (>5 Mbps). Taking the top spot in high broadband adoption is the Netherlands, which boasts 68 percent of its country’s connections to Akamai above 5 Mbps. Hong Kong and South Korea achieved 59 percent and 58 percent high broadband adoption respectively. Within the list of top 10 countries in high broadband adoption, seven are in Europe.
About the Akamai State of the Internet report
Each quarter, Akamai publishes a "State of the Internet" report. This report includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform about attack traffic, broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics concerning the Internet and its usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time. To learn more and to access the archive of past reports, please visit www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet.
To download the figures from the second quarter 2011 State of the Internet report, please visit http://wwwns.akamai.com/soti/soti_q211_figures.zip
About Akamai
Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit http://www.akamai.com/ and follow @Akamai on Twitter
Key insights - India
* India was ranked #8 globally in terms of attack traffic origination with 2.7% of observed global attack traffic
* The percentage of broadband connections (connections to Akamai at speeds above 2 Mbps) grew at an impressive 45% quarter over quarter.
* The percentage of narrowband connections (connections to Akamai at speeds below 256 kbps) remains one of the highest globally at 31%
* India’s average connection speed increased 13% quarter over quarter to 844 kbps
Commenting on the report, Sanjay Singh, Managing Director – India, Akamai Technologies, said, “We continue to see encouraging signs of increasing broadband penetration in the country with key metrics such as average broadband speeds and IP addresses, both growing well above 10% sequentially quarter over quarter. The average mobile connectivity speeds in India are also growing at a fast clip and we expect India’s broadband adoption percentage to exceed the 10% threshold from the current 7.1% in the coming year, if these key indicators keep growing at such rates.”
Global Internet Penetration
In the second quarter of 2011, more than 604 million unique IP addresses from 238 countries and regions connected to the Akamai Intelligent Platform. This represents 3.4 percent more IP addresses than connected in the first quarter of 2011, and an increase of 21 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago.
Among those countries listed in the top 10 list for the number of unique IPv4 addresses connecting to the Akamai Intelligent Platform during the quarter, Brazil logged the greatest quarter-over-quarter increase at 9.0 percent, growing to over 15 million IP addresses, with Japan's 8.7 percent growth to nearly 45 million IP addresses a close second. For European countries in the top 10, Italy boasted the greatest quarterly gain at 5.4 percent, growing to just over 14 million IP addresses, while Germany mustered an increase of only 0.4 percent, remaining just below 35 million IP addresses. The United States managed to add only 0.6 percent to its unique IP address count, remaining just below 143.5 million IP addresses.
Mobile Connection Speeds and Data Consumption
In the second quarter of 2011, the average measured connection speed for known mobile providers worldwide ranged from a high of slightly more than 5 Mbps to a low of 209 kbps. Approximately three-quarters of the surveyed providers had average connection speeds above 1 Mbps.
With regard to average peak connection speeds for the 108 mobile providers worldwide for which Akamai analyzed data, the report highlights a range of 23.4 Mbps as the fastest to 1.2 Mbps as the slowest. Of all such mobile providers, three boasted average peak connection speeds above 20 Mbps, 27 achieved average peak connection speeds above 10 Mbps and 47 recorded average peak connection speeds greater than 5 Mbps. Only one mobile provider (located in South Africa) did not record an average peak connection speed above 2 Mbps.
During the second quarter of 2011, mobile consumption figures remained fairly consistent with data from the first quarter. Users at 10 of the surveyed mobile providers consumed an average of 1 GB or more per month from the Akamai platform. Users at 74 of the surveyed providers consumed greater than 100 MB per month of content from Akamai, and users at the remaining 20 providers consumed less than 100 MB per month.
Through its relationship with Ericsson, Akamai continues to include data collected by the equipment provider in the State of the Internet report. According to Ericsson, the volume of mobile data traffic in the second quarter of 2011 doubled year-over-year and grew eight percent quarter-over-quarter.
Attack Traffic and SSL Trends
In the second quarter of 2011, Taiwan generated the most attack traffic observed by Akamai, bumping last quarter's newcomer to the list, Myanmar, to second place. Looking at total observed attack traffic aggregated by region, Asia Pacific/Oceania generated 47 percent of such attack traffic, Europe 30 percent, the Americas 20 percent, and Africa a mere 3 percent.
SSL is widely used across the Web to enable secure communications with social networks, e-commerce sites and financial services applications, to name a few. SSL ciphers help to create these secure connections and are based on well-known encryption algorithms. New to this quarter's report is an examination of trends in SSL ciphers presented by Web clients to the Akamai Secure Content Delivery Network. Since the beginning of 2009, Akamai notes that use of the SSL cipher AES 128-SHA-1 has nearly tripled while the use of SSL cipher RC4-MD5-128 has declined by almost two-thirds. Interpreting the observed trends, as well as data observed for other SSL ciphers, Akamai believes the use of RC4-based ciphers may reach near-zero levels over the next several years. Furthermore, these trends may indicate a shift towards stronger ciphers, which could lead to SSL becoming more secure over time.
Moving to High Broadband Connectivity
In the second quarter of 2011, 27 percent of all connections to the Akamai Intelligent Platform were made at high broadband speeds (>5 Mbps). Taking the top spot in high broadband adoption is the Netherlands, which boasts 68 percent of its country’s connections to Akamai above 5 Mbps. Hong Kong and South Korea achieved 59 percent and 58 percent high broadband adoption respectively. Within the list of top 10 countries in high broadband adoption, seven are in Europe.
About the Akamai State of the Internet report
Each quarter, Akamai publishes a "State of the Internet" report. This report includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform about attack traffic, broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics concerning the Internet and its usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time. To learn more and to access the archive of past reports, please visit www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet.
To download the figures from the second quarter 2011 State of the Internet report, please visit http://wwwns.akamai.com/soti/soti_q211_figures.zip
About Akamai
Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit http://www.akamai.com/ and follow @Akamai on Twitter
