Internet: Now And Then

Nearly 10 times as many people are connected to the Internet today as there were a decade ago. The Wall Street Journal has a story The Internet: Then And Now

The two images above are maps of the Internet, specifically the “routers” – equipment that passes data to its intended destination – and the paths between them. Think of it as the Internet’s highways and exit ramps. The maps were made by Lumeta, a tech-security company. The map on the left was made 10 years ago, and shows about 88,000 routers. The one on the right was made a couple of months ago. This time Lumeta mapped over 450,000 routers.

The behind-the-scenes workings of the Internet rarely get much attention. But as the maps show, it’s basically one big construction project. The telecommunications companies and other organizations that operate the insides of the Internet have added so much equipment that there are now five times as many roads and ramps as there were a decade ago.

Imagine what would be the status of the Internet after a decade from now!