* Attack traffic continues to grow, both in terms of country counts and number of targeted ports
* New Internet connectivity up significantly during the quarter, through undersea cables, WiMAX, and satellite
* Akamai observes a nearly ten percent increase globally in the number of unique IP addresses connecting to its network; may be attributable to more people turning to the Internet for news and video content related to the Beijing Olympic Games
* Investments in rural connectivity drives quarter-over-quarter increases in high broadband connections in many U.S. states
CAMBRIDGE, MA – November 19, 2008 – Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leader in powering rich media, dynamic transactions and enterprise applications online, today announced the release of the third edition of its quarterly “State of the Internet” report available for download at www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet. Leveraging published reports and information available on its network, Akamai’s quarterly report provides insight into key Internet statistics such as origin of attack traffic, network outages and broadband connectivity levels across the globe. As the Company’s third published edition, the report also now provides a quarter-over-quarter view into trends.
Global connectivity saw big advances in the third quarter, with various undersea cable projects getting underway or nearing completion, the commercial launch of WiMAX services in a number of countries, and the announcement of fiber-to-the-premises services that will bring gigabit-speed connections to subscribers in Japan, the Ukraine, and the Netherlands.
While global Internet penetration remained stable compared to the second quarter of 2008, interesting trends emerged within United States-based Web traffic. Delaware, Washington, Virginia, Texas, and Georgia all experienced quarterly declines of more than 40% for narrowband connectivity (<256 Kbps) as compared to the second quarter. South Dakota, Maine, and Hawaii nearly doubled their rates of high broadband connectivity (>5 Mbps) quarter over quarter, while Oklahoma and Kentucky are the only two U.S. states to see consecutive quarter-over-quarter growth in high broadband connectivity since Q4 2007. Virginia, Massachusetts, and New Jersey have the highest levels of Internet penetration in the United States.
Regarding global connection speeds, South Korea had the highest levels of high broadband connectivity for the third straight quarter. In the United States, Delaware also maintained its top position, with 55% of connections to Akamai occurring at 5 Mbps or greater. Looking at observed “narrowband” connections, Mayotte and Equatorial Guinea were the “slowest” countries, with 97% and 94% of connections to Akamai, respectively, occurring at speeds below 256 Kbps. In the United States, the District of Columbia and Washington State continued to have the highest percentages of observed connections below 256 Kbps. However, these regions also saw a significant quarter-over-quarter decline in narrowband connection percentages, down 25% and 46% respectively as compared to the second quarter.
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.
The Akamai Difference
Akamai® provides market-leading managed services for powering rich media, dynamic transactions, and enterprise applications online. Having pioneered the content delivery market one decade ago, Akamai’s services have been adopted by the world’s most recognized brands across diverse industries. The alternative to centralized Web infrastructure, Akamai’s global network of tens of thousands of distributed servers provides the scale, reliability, insight and performance for businesses to succeed online. Akamai has transformed the Internet into a more viable place to inform, entertain, interact, and collaborate. To experience The Akamai Difference, visit www.akamai.com.
