Where is the Internet Located

Where is the Internet Located?

The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide.

The foundations for the internet were set up by the US Department of Defense in the 1960s. This involved a process of connecting computers in order to transfer data more quickly. A process that is still ongoing to this day.

Most people believe that the internet is a thing that just exist in the air. No doubt, the internet may indeed seem like an endless stream of cyberspace, but it takes a lot of real space on the earth to keep it running. Lets take a look at some of the places that you can physically locate the internet.

Undersea Communication Cable

Rather than travel through the air, as you might think, the internet travels actually across the globe through a series of underground cables, many of which stretch across the world’s oceans.

The cables were installed by boats, known as cable-layers, and were carefully mapped out to avoid hitting sunken ships or coral reefs.

Undersea cables connecting the world may seem like a new thing, but in fact they have been down there since the 1860s

Apollo Submarine Cable Systems — London

Apollo Submarine Cable Systems, runs the most advanced trans-Atlantic cable system, connecting the US to the UK and Europe.

Pacific Crossing — Tokyo and California

Pacific Crossing, runs the main trans-pacific cable system, connecting the US to Asia.

Reach — Hong Kong

Reach, runs the main Asia-pacific cable system, connecting most of Asia and additionally Australia.

FLAG Telecom — London

FLAG Teleco, runs the largest Europe-Africa-Asia cable network.

PIPE Networks — Brisbane

PIPE Networks, runs the main cable network connecting Australia to Asia and the US.

The main 6 undersea cable landing stations are:

Tokyo
Singapore
New York/New Jersey
Cornwall
Southern Florida
Hong Kong

60 Hudson Street

Another place where you can physically locate the internet is 60 Hudson Street.

60 Hudson Street, formerly known as the Western Union Building, is a telecommunications building spanning the entire block between Hudson Street, Thomas Street, Worth Street, and West Broadway in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

The building currently serves as a major data hub center, where dozens of telecommunications companies route internet traffic and exchange information in a “meet-me-room” through fiber optic lines. 60 Hudson Street, also houses more than 400 cables, including the ones that connect North America and Europe.

NSA Data Center in Utah

NSA Data Center is home to massive servers which collect and store data from emails, internet searches, cell phone calls, Amazon purchases, and more. It’s where the NSA stockpiles communication information from all across the world.

Cloud Campuses

Some of the largest physical manifestations of the internet exist in cloud campuses. Tech giants like Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft have invested in these sprawling data centers in order to build server capacity and electricity to power their networks.

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Other Facts about the Internet

The Internet has over 4.95 billion users.

This year, the Internet reached another milestone, with 4.3 billion users accounting for 56 percent of the global population.

Just 1 percent of the world’s population had access to the internet in 1995. Since that year, the number of internet users has exploded, with the first billion hitting in 2005, the second in 2010, and the third in 2015.

What’s fascinating is that between January 2012 and January 2017, the number of Internet users increased by 82 percent, or about 1.7 billion people. This equates to about one million new users per day, or more than ten new users per second.

Mobile Internet usage accounts for 60% of all Internet usage.

For the first time ever, mobile Internet use overtook PC use in 2014

IoT gadgets like smartwatches, home automation, health-related wearables, and 3D printers are becoming popular. With the expanding popularity of cloud-connected devices, it’s simple to observe how the average internet user has 3 mobile devices linked at any given time.

By 2022, it is expected that there will be more than 20 billion networked devices and interconnections due to improvements in wearable technology and mobile technologies.

Internet traffic will reach 2.8 zettabytes by 2022.

Web traffic is increasing as more data is moved to the cloud and more consumers connect with smartphones and tablets.

This year, the worldwide annual Internet traffic will be 4.8 ZB, or 396 exabytes (EB) monthly. The worldwide Internet traffic yearly speed in 2017 was 1.5 ZB yearly, or 122 EB monthly.

There are close to 2 billion webpages on the internet as of December 2021. Although it is difficult to estimate the extent of the Internet.

Google processed 200 Terabytes of data in 2014, which is less than 0.004% of the total Internet. To put it another way, the Internet is enormous.