Akamai unveils internet 'health' report

Real-Time Web Monitor is a virtual weather map of internet conditions, measuring attack traffic, network latency between major cities, traffic volume and network performance.

How healthy is the internet? Akamai Technologies has unveiled a unique set of tools that provide a view into the real-time wellbeing of the internet.

Operating the world's largest distributed computing platform for accelerating online content and applications for today's most successful businesses, Akamai has deployed over 25,000 servers in more than 750 cities that are used by content providers to bypass the inherent bottlenecks that exist as part of the internet's infrastructure.

Serving as a virtual air-traffic controller for the billions of web pages, streams, software downloads, and application transactions traversing the internet, Akamai is providing the public - for the first time - with a visual understanding of why some web traffic may be slow, infected or simply non-existent.

"It's easy to take for granted that the internet will always be on, and always working," said Tom Leighton, co-founder and chief scientist of Akamai.

"Reality shows us that there are many factors, on any given day, degrading the internet's performance.

"Some are malicious, and some are the result of the incredible amount of content being requested at any one time.

"Akamai is in a unique position to monitor the internet in real-time, identifying where and when the internet is being taxed.

"The services we provide, leveraging this data, are geared toward helping our customers overcome the challenges of the internet so they can effectively conduct business online".

Akamai is introducing three distinct data visualisation tools, each with interactive settings, allowing visitors to customise the data based on interest.

Leighton added: "Although there is a great deal more that we monitor daily on the internet on behalf of our customers, these tools are a first for giving the public a view into the internet's growth, stability and potential trouble spots." Offering three modes of visualising the internet in real-time, the Real-Time Web Monitor identifies the global regions with the greatest attack traffic, cities with the slowest web connections (latency), and geographic areas with the most web traffic (traffic density).

Attack Traffic Akamai displays real-time attack traffic by geo-region (state, province or country).

This visualisation is based on data collected that includes the number of connections that are attempted, the source IP address, the destination IP address and the source and destination ports.

The packets captured are generally from automated scanning trojans and worms looking to infect new computers scanning randomly generated IP addresses.

Latency/Speed Akamai measures network latency between most major cities via regularly automated tests.

These tests consist of web connections and downloads, as well as Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) pings.

Displayed in this interface are the current top ten worst performing cities.

Absolute Latency depicts the current latency of a given city, while Relative Latency depicts the differential between the city's current latency and its historical average latency.

Network Traffic Akamai monitors the amount of data being requested and delivered by geography at any given moment in time.

Displayed in this interface are the top ten regions with the current highest traffic volumes.

Akamai's route optimisation technology is designed to improve the performance and reliability of dynamic applications and content delivered over the internet.

The Network Performance Comparison tool illustrates how Akamai identifies the fastest and most reliable path available between an Akamai edge server and an enterprise's origin data center to retrieve dynamic content.

To utilise this tool, select a pair of cities to compare Akamai versus the public internet.

Visualising Akamai handles, at times, 20% of the world's total web traffic, providing a unique view into what's happening on the web.

This tool provides insight into the world's online behavior at any given moment including how much rich media is on the move, the sheer volume of data being requested, the number and concentration of worldwide visitors, and average connection speeds worldwide.

Net Usage Indices: these data visualisation tools accompany Akamai's existing Net Usage Indices measuring real-time online consumption of News, Retail and Music.

All of the indices are intended to provide unique insight into the massive cultural and economic changes resulting from the ways people worldwide get news and information and act as consumers online.

The Akamai Net Usage Indices measure internet traffic dedicated to an aggregate set of websites, monitoring consumption by continent, as well as the world as a whole.

Akamai's Indices do not release specific customer data, but show an aggregate view of web traffic to the sites that Akamai supports.

For each Index, there is a downloadable widget available.

Akamai is the leading global service provider for accelerating content and applications online.

Thousands of organisations have formed trusted relationships with Akamai, improving their revenue and reducing costs by maximising the performance of their online businesses.

Leveraging the Akamai EdgePlatform, these organisations gain business advantage today, and have the foundation for the emerging web solutions of tomorrow.

Akamai is "The Trusted Choice for Online Business.".

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