Akamai Announces Second Quarter 2010 State of the Internet Report

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ --

• Masan, South Korea holds position as fastest city on the globe
• Mobile connectivity improves quarter-over-quarter in most regions around the world
• U.S. becomes leading source of attack traffic, followed by China and Russia
• More than half of observed mobile attack traffic originating from three countries: Italy (25%), Brazil (18%) and Chile (7.5%)

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM), the leading provider of cloud optimization services, today announced the release of its 2nd Quarter, 2010 State of the Internet report available for download at www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet.  Leveraging information gathered from its global server network, the Akamai report provides insight into key Internet statistics such as broadband adoption, mobile connectivity, and attack traffic, as well as trends over time.

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Highlights from Akamai's quarterly report follow:

Internet Connectivity

In the second quarter of 2010, over 500 million unique IP addresses, from 236 countries/regions, connected to the Akamai network.  This represents 2.8% more IP addresses than the first quarter of 2010, and 18% more than the same quarter a year ago.  The United States had the most IP addresses connecting to Akamai.

In looking at the "long tail," there were 186 countries/regions with fewer than one million unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai in the second quarter of 2010; 139 with fewer than 100,000 unique IP addresses; and 34 with fewer than 1,000.  Some of the countries with the fewest unique IP addresses (under 500) connecting to Akamai were Somalia, Sierra Leone, Chad, and Myanmar.

Mobile Connectivity

Similar to last quarter, there was a wide range in average mobile connection speeds, with both the fastest (at 6.1 Mbps) and slowest (at 115 Kbps) seen on mobile providers in Slovakia.  Of the 109 mobile providers listed, 19 had average connection speeds in the broadband (2 Mbps or above) range (up from 14 in the first quarter), while 29 more had average measured connection speeds of 1 Mbps or more (up from 21 in the first quarter). On a quarter-over-quarter basis, mobile connectivity appeared to improve in many places, with users on 95 of the 109 listed mobile providers experiencing higher connection speeds in the second quarter.

100 Fastest Cities Worldwide

Each quarter, Akamai examines the average measured connection speed of cities around the world.  Cities were evaluated if they had at least 50,000 unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai.  University networks were excluded so as to ensure the most accurate representation of a 'city.'  Once again, Masan, South Korea held the title as the city with the fastest average connection speed.  Masan's average speed increased by more than 5 Mbps quarter-over-quarter, making it the only city in the world with an average connection speed higher than 20 Mbps.  Reviewing the top 100 fastest cities around the world in the second quarter of 2010 reveals the following:

• Asia continues to dominate the list, with 62 of the top cities located in Japan and 12 in South Korea
• Umea, Sweden ranked as the fastest city in Europe (#20 out of 100)
• Only eight U.S. cities made the list, with Monterey Park, CA as the fastest U.S. city (#76 out of 100), ahead of Riverside, CA; Union, NJ; and Oakland, CA.  

Fastest U.S. States

The average connection speed for the U.S. as a whole in the second quarter of 2010 was 4.6 Mbps.  As in the first quarter, this was exceeded by 22 states.  Both across the country and within the top 10, most quarterly fluctuations were relatively minor.  The biggest growth was seen in West Virginia and Rhode Island, gaining 11% and 10% respectively, while the biggest losses were seen in Iowa and Arizona, declining 11% and 10% respectively.  Year-over-year changes were more significant, with 11 states posting double digit increases, led by Alaska's yearly growth of 44%.

Global Average Connection Speeds

Average connection speeds globally appeared to rebound from the first quarter decline, increasing on both a quarterly and a yearly basis.  South Korea, which ranked as the country with the fastest global average connection speeds, posted significant growth in the second quarter, on both a quarterly and a yearly basis.  Rounding out the list of the top five countries with the fastest global average connection speed are Hong Kong, Japan, Romania, and The Netherlands.

Global Average Peak Connection Speeds

Global average peak connection speeds demonstrated quarterly growth as well in nine of the top 10 countries/regions making the list.  While most of the quarterly increases were modest, South Korea, Belgium and Monaco saw double-digit percentage growth, and The Maldives experienced a nearly three-fold increase compared to last quarter.  However, the Maldives only had approximately 12,000 unique IPs connecting to Akamai in the second quarter, compared to other countries/regions in the top 10, most with millions of unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai.

Attack Traffic

The U.S. became the top attack traffic source in the second quarter of 2010, accounting for 11% of observed attack traffic in total.  China and Russia held the second and third place spots respectively, accounting for just over 20% of observed attack traffic.  Attack traffic concentration was lower in the second quarter, with the top 10 ports seeing just over 86% of the observed attack traffic.  Aggregated at a continental level, Europe continued to be responsible for the highest percentage of attacks seen in the second quarter.

Attack traffic from known mobile networks was significantly more concentrated than overall observed attack traffic, with half of the observed mobile attacks coming from just three countries: Italy (25%), Brazil (18%) and Chile (7.5%).

About the Akamai State of the Internet report

Akamai's unique level of visibility into the connection speeds of systems issuing requests to the Akamai network has created a one-of-a-kind view into broadband adoption around the globe.  Leveraging that data, Akamai's quarterly State of the Internet report identifies both the countries and U.S. states with the fastest and slowest average connection speeds exhibited by IP addresses originating from those respective geographies.  To learn more, and to access the archive of past reports, please visit www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet.

To download the figures from the Q2 2010 State of the Internet, please visit: http://wwwns.akamai.com/soti_q210_figures.zip .

About Akamai

Akamai® provides market-leading, cloud-based services for optimizing Web and mobile content and applications, online HD video, and secure e-commerce.  Combining highly-distributed, energy-efficient computing with intelligent software, Akamai's global platform is transforming the cloud into a more viable place to inform, entertain, advertise, transact and collaborate.  To learn how the world's leading enterprises are optimizing their business in the cloud, please visit www.akamai.com and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.