The Internet is now a fundamental part of our lives and is being used continuously by billions of people every day. It was first created in 1960 by the U.S. department of defence as a way of connecting computers to transfer data quickly. Ever since then, the internet has exploded to 75 million servers, spread across five billion computers, smartphones and other devices. More than half a million undersea cables are the backbone of the internet, pushing data at the speed of light. With the advent of satellite-based internet technology and increased smartphone penetration, the internet will continue to get bigger and bigger every year.
Through this infographic, we can understand the vast physical aspects and invisible infrastructure which governs the internet.
- As of today, there are an estimated 75 million server’s powering the internet. Microsoft has the most number of servers at 1 million, while Google has 900,000.
- If we exclude the servers and cables, the internet has been calculated to weigh 0.2 millionths of an ounce, or the weight of a grain of sand, despite comprising an estimated 5 million terabytes of data.
- Google controls the world’s largest index of the internet, but this constitutes only 0.004% of all data on the internet.
- There are six main undersea cable lading stations in the world. The Apollo submarine cable systems run the most advanced trans-atlantic system cable system, connecting the U.S to the U.K and Europe.
- Frankfurt is the world’s busiest internet hub, registering a whopping 2.5 terabits per second. USA has the most number of internet hubs at 97, four times more than second place Brazil, which has 23 internet hubs .
- In 2003, there were just 300 million users on the internet and by 2013 that number had swelled to 3 billion worldwide, due to the introduction of smartphones and other connected devices.
Currently 25% of the world’s population accesses the internet through mobile devices. By 2020, the internet of things (IoT) will add 40 billion more devices to the internet, and there will be 10 connected devices for every man, woman and child on the planet. This improved access will increase internet data consumption to an estimated 607 terabytes per second by the year 2020.
