Akamai releases first quarter 2014 ‘State of the Internet’ report

BANGALORE, INDIA: Akamai Technologies, Inc., the provider of cloud services released its First Quarter, 2014 State of the Internet report.

Based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform, the report provides insight into key global statistics such as connection speeds, overall attack traffic, network connectivity/availability issues, and traffic patterns across leading Web properties and digital media providers.

The report also includes insight into NTP reflection and WordPress XML-RPC pingback attacks, the status of IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 adoption, and global 4K readiness. Data and graphics from the First Quarter, 2014 State of the Internet Report can be found on the Akamai State of the Internet site and through the Akamai State of the Internet app for iPads and iPhones.

Highlights from Akamai's First Quarter, 2014 State of the Internet Report:

Global Average Connection Speeds and Global Broadband Connectivity

The global average connection speed climbed 1.8 percent to continue its steady growth over recent quarters, and while global average peak connection speeds dropped 8.6 percent in the first quarter of 2014, year-over-year trends remained positive with a 13 percent increase.

With the global average connection speed at 3.9 Mbps as of quarter-end, it is expected that the measurement will surpass the 4 Mbps broadband threshold next quarter. In the first quarter, nine of the top 10 countries/regions saw increases in average connection speeds, including an 8percent jump for first place South Korea (23.6 Mbps), which is now 9 Mbps ahead of second place Japan (14.6 Mbps).

Of the top 10 countries, only the Czech Republic experienced a decrease in average connection speed, remaining in eighth place with a 1.9 percent drop.

Year-over-year, global average connection speeds grew by 24 percent and increases were seen in all but seven countries/regions. Growth ranged from a low of 0.7percent in Panama (2.6 Mbps) to a high of 196percent in Sudan (3.2 Mbps).

South Korea showed a 145 percent increase from the first quarter of 2013, a growth rate that nearly tripled Ireland's 47 percent increase, which ranked second in year-over-year growth among the top 10.

Increases in global average peak connection speeds during the first quarter of 2014 ranged from 0.2 percent in Colombia (16.8 Mbps) to 76percent in Sudan (13.4 Mbps).

A total of 43 qualifying countries/regions saw quarter-over-quarter increases in their average peak connection speeds, whereas 92 qualifying countries/regions saw declines.