Sidebar: A Better Internet
February 13, 2006 12:00 PM ET
Computerworld - Between 2001 and 2003, the "loss quality" of the global Internet improved dramatically—and it continues to improve, according to researchers at Stanford University. In 2001, only 19% of the world's connected population lived in countries where packet loss was good or acceptable. By 2005, that number had risen to 74%. In the U.S., available bandwidth of up to 10Gbit/sec. over the Internet backbone is also increasing end to end as broadband continues to roll out to businesses and residences. "Pretty much all applications are going to work on the backbone," says Les Cottrell, chairman of the SCIC Monitoring Working Group at Stanford. But today, end-to-end performance still depends on the tail circuit.
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MAXIMUM PACKET LOSS FOR ACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE, BY APPLICATION
| E-mail | 10% | | FTP | 5%-10% | | Videoconferencing | 4%-6% | | Voice | 1%-3% |
INTERNET BACKBONE PACKET LOSS IN THE U.S.:
Less than 0.1% |
INTERNET BACKBONE RAW BANDWIDTH IN THE U.S.:
2.5 to 10Gbit/sec. |
SOURCE: The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's PingER project at Stanford University. |
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Packet Loss Across the World's Population
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