latest Internet strategic metrics
Tony Rutkowski
Biannual Strategic Note 28 Aug 1998
Center for Next Generation Internet NGI.ORG
INTERNET SURVEY REACHES 36.7 MILLION INTERNET HOST LEVEL
Herndon VA, USA. The latest results from the Internet's most
basic and longest continuing measurement of it's size were just
released by Mark Lottor of Network Wizards at Menlo Park CA USA.
The Domain Survey attempts to discover every host on the Internet
by using the Domain Name System. The results were gathered
during July 1998. The raw data plus some Network Wizards charts
are available at <http://www.nw.com/>.
Lottor's measurements show that the Internet currently consists
of countless autonomous networks with 36,739,000 "advertised"
connected computers in 242 countries and territories. Because of
the unknown and potentially unlimited numbers of multiuser computers
and network or application gateways, it is not possible to correlate
any of this information with the number of end users. However, see
Quarterman's estimates at <http://www.mids.org>
Lottor's new method for accomplishing the survey can be found at
<http://www.nw.com/zone/WWW/new-survey.html>. Although the new
method will allow more accurate continuing surveys, it is
sufficiently different so as to prevent definitive comparisons with
older data. However, some strategic highlights can be observed:
o The figure of 36.7 million hosts represents a significant new
benchmark for the number of Internet hosts. By adjusting 1995-97
data and combining it with Jan 1998 data, it appears the current
Internet annual host growth rate is probably between 40 and
50 percent. Based on the average growth over the past three years,
the new projected host figure for Jan 2000 is 60-70 million.
o The largest domain is .COM, consisting 10.3 million hosts, and
constituting 28 percent of all hosts. Together, the hosts in
all the generic domains constitute 66 percent of all Internet hosts.
o The new survey method also provides some useful information
about the Internet Domain Name System structure. More
than 81 percent of the 2nd level domain structure resides
within the generic top level domains .COM, .NET, .EDU, .ORG,
.MIL, and .GOV. See table below.
o Without subsequent processing to attribute the three
letter global domains to a country previously done by
John Quarterman of MIDS <http://www.mids.org/>, it's
not possible to determine final country figures. However,
it is clear that substantial global growth is occurring
and the new data is consistent with the approximately 60/40
percentage of US based hosts versus non-US based hosts.
o Hosts in 242 country and territory domains "appear" have
been counted. The domains of 3 countries or territories
appeared on the host count for the first time - apparently
connecting since Jan 98. (See below.) However, some of these
hosts may not be actually physically located in the country
or territory, and some have been marketed or leased for generic
purposes - indicated by an asterisk (*) in the lists below.
This and previous strategic summaries, as well as very attractive
new graphic presentations of all these values and trends can be
found at:
<http://www.ngi.org/trends.htm>
*******************************************************************
* This analysis and material is made available to the Internet *
* community. The material may be copied and distributed providing *
* attribution is given to the sources. *
*******************************************************************
Tony Rutkowski
NGI Associates
Herndon VA 22071
USA
tel: +1.703.437.9236
fax: +1.703.471.0596
mailto: a...@ngi.org
mailto: a...@chaos.com
mailto: a...@netmagic.com
====================================================================
Host Counts by Size
(above 10,000)
change from
domain count Jan 1998
------ ---------- -----
com 10,301,570 26%
net 7,054,863 34%
edu 4,464,216 13%
mil 1,359,153 24%
org 644,971 24%
gov 612,725 23%
int 853 27%
Japan 1,352,200 16%
USA-dom 1,302,204 21%
UK 1,190,663 21%
Germany 1,154,340 16%
Canada 1,027,571 22%
Australia 750,327 13%
Netherlands 514,660 35%
Finland 513,527 14%
France 431,045 29%
Sweden 380,634 19%
Italy 320,725 32%
Norway 312,441 9%
Spain 243,436 44%
Switzerland 205,593 24%
Denmark 190,293 19%
New Zealand 177,753 5%
Korea 174,800 43%
Brazil 163,890 40%
Belgium 153,760 75%
South Africa 140,577 15%
Austria 132,202 21%
Russian Fed. (RU) 130,422 39%
Taiwan 103,661 22%
Poland 98,798 27%
Israel 87,642 36%
Mexico 83,949 102%
Hungary 73,987 61%
Hong Kong 72,232 8%
Czech 65,672 25%
Singapore 59,469 3%
Argentina 57,532 188%
Portugal 45,113 14%
Ireland 44,840 17%
Malaysia 40,758 26%
Greece 40,061 49%
Turkey 27,861 12%
Thailand 25,459 77%
Chile 22,889 28%
Iceland 20,678 18%
Russia 20,024 0%
China 19,313 18%
Estonia 18,948 33%
Slovenia 18,084 17%
Uruguay 16,345 59%
Slovakia 14,154 20%
Romania 13,697 47%
United Arab Emir. 13,519 597%
Ukraine 13,271 45%
Colombia 11,864 17%
Indonesia 10,691 11%
India 10,436 45%
Lithuania 8,746 140%
Latvia 8,115 33%
Philippines 7,602 76%
Venezuela 6,825 76%
Luxembourg 6,145 44%
Bulgaria 6,141 48%
Croatia 6,117 -6%
Kuwait 5,597 38%
Yugoslavia 5,270 31%
Dominican Republic 4,917 1%
Peru 3,763 10%
Cyprus 3,286 25%
Costa Rica 2,844 -4%
Egypt 2,043 1%
Bermuda 1,993 0%
Pakistan 1,923 49%
Niue 1,608 359%
Trinidad and Tobago 1,531 67%
Tonga* 1,446 99%
Lebanon 1,400 23%
Kazakhstan 1,397 16%
Ecuador 1,227 18%
Guatemala 1,046 57%
====================================================================
Host Counts by Growth Rate
(above 100%)
change from
domain count Jan 1998
------ ---------- -----
Turkmenistan* 296 9767%
American Samoa 18 1700%
Cocos (Keeling) Is. 259 1077%
Seychelles 7 600%
United Arab Emirates 13,519 597%
Tanzania 137 448%
Sao Tome And Principe 64 433%
Tajikistan* 57 418%
Jersey* 14 367%
Niue 1,608 359%
Bosnia And Herzegowina 348 274%
El Salvador 647 232%
Netherlands Antilles 6 200%
Argentina 57,532 188%
Paraguay 855 187%
Turks and Caicos Is. 129 180%
Ascension Island 5 150%
Cameroon 5 150%
Niger 5 150%
Lithuania 8,746 140%
Macedonia 407 127%
Moldova 370 127%
Faroe Islands 560 127%
Togo 83 124%
Brunei Darussalam 740 118%
Burkina Faso 93 107%
Uzbekistan 198 102%
Guadeloupe 115 102%
Mexico 83,949 102%
Georgia 632 100%
Congo (Democratic Rep) 8 100%
====================================================================
Country or Territory Hosts First Appearing Jul 1998
Comoros
Gabon
Nauru
====================================================================