Media & Environment

A Guide to the many ways people can connect to the Internet

As technology grows, so does our need for bigger, better and faster Internet connections. Over the years, the way content is presented via the Web has changed drastically. Ten years ago being able to center bold, colored text was something to admire, while today Flash, animations, online gaming, streaming video, database-driven Web sites, e-commerce and virtual offices — to name but a few — are becoming standards. The need for speed has changed the options available to consumers and businesses alike in terms of how and how fast we can connect to the Internet.

While technology changes at a rapid pace, so do Internet connections. The connection speeds listed below represent a snapshot of general average to maximum speeds at the time of publication. This is no doubt will change over time and Internet connection speeds also vary between Internet Service Providers (ISP).

Analog (up to 56k)

Also called dial-up access, it is both economical and slow. Using a modem connected to your PC, users connect to the Internet when the computer dials a phone number (which is provided by your ISP) and connects to the network. Dial-up is an analog connection because data is sent over an analog,  public telephone network. The modem converts received analog data to digital and vise versa. Because dial-up access uses normal telephone lines the quality of the connection is not always good and data rates are limited.

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Typical Dial-up connection speeds range from 2400 bps to 56 Kbps.

ISDN

Integrated services digital network (ISDN) is an international communications standard for sending voice, video, and data over digital telephone lines or normal telephone wires.

• Typical ISDN speeds range from 64 Kbps to 128 Kbps.

B-ISDN

Broadband ISDN is similar in function to ISDN but it transfers data over fiber optic telephone lines, not normal telephone wires. SONET is the physical transport backbone of B-ISDN. Broadband ISDN has not been widely implemented.

DSL

DSL is also called an always on connection because it uses existing 2-wire copper telephone line connected to the premise and will not tie up your phone as a dial-up connection does. There is no need to dial-in to your ISP as DSL is always on. The two main categories of DSL for home subscribers are called ADSL and SDSL.

ADSL

ADSL is the most commonly deployed types of DSL in North America. Short for asymmetric digital subscriber line ADSL supports data rates of from 1.5 to 9 Mbps when receiving data (known as the downstream rate) and from 16 to 640 Kbps when sending data (known as the upstream rate). ADSL requires a special ADSL modem.

ADSL+2

ADSL+2A is an extension to ADSL broadband technology that provides subscribers with significantly faster download speeds when compared to traditional ADSL connections. ADSL+2 works in the same fashion as ADSL a special filter is installed on a subscriber’s telephone line to split existing copper telephone lines (POTS) between regular telephone (voice) and ADSL+2. ADSL2+ service is most commonly offered in highly-populated metropolitan areas and subscribers must be in close geographical locations to the provider’s central office to receive ADSL2+ service.

SDSL

SDSL is still more common in Europe. Short for symmetric digital subscriber line, a technology that allows more data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines (POTS). SDSL supports data rates up to 3 Mbps. SDSL works by sending digital pulses in the high-frequency area of telephone wires and can not operate simultaneously with voice connections over the same wires. SDSL requires a special SDSL modem. SDSL is called symmetric because it supports the same data rates for upstream and downstream traffic.

VDSL

Very High DSL (VDSL) is a DSL technology that offers fast data rates over relatively short distances — the shorter the distance, the faster the connection rate.

• All types of DSL technologies are collectively referred to as xDSL.

• xDSL connection speeds range from 128 Kbps to 8 Mbps.

Cable

Through the use of a cable modem you can have a broadband Internet connection that is designed to operate over cable TV lines. Cable Internet works by using TV channel space for data transmission, with certain channels used for downstream transmission, and other channels for upstream transmission. Because the coaxial cable used by cable TV provides much greater bandwidth than telephone lines, a cable modem can be used to achieve extremely fast access.

• Cable speeds range from 512 Kbps to 20 Mbps.

The diagram of toatal internal reflection of optic fiber

Wireless Internet Connections

Wireless Internet, or wireless broadband is one of the newest Internet connection types. Instead of using telephone or cable networks for your Internet connection, you use radio frequency bands. Wireless Internet provides an always-on connection which can be accessed from anywhere — as long as you geographically within a network coverage area. Wireless access is still considered to be relatively new, and it may be difficult to find a wireless service provider in some areas. It is typically more expensive and mainly available in metropolitan areas.

• See the Wireless Networking Standards page of Webopedia for data rates, Modulation schemes, Security, and More info on Wireless networking.

T-1 Lines

T-1 lines are a popular leased line option for businesses connecting to the Internet and for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) connecting to the Internet backbone. It is a dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of 1.544Mbps.  A T-1 line actually consists of 24 individual channels, each of which supports 64Kbits per second. Each 64Kbit/second channel can be configured to carry voice or data traffic. Most telephone companies allow you to buy just one or some of these individual channels. This is known as as fractional T-1 access.

Bonded T-1

A bonded T-1 is two or more T-1 lines that have been joined (bonded) together to increase bandwidth. Where a single T-1 provides approximately 1.5Mbps, two bonded T1s provide 3Mbps or 46 channels for voice or data. Two bonded T-1s allow you to use the full bandwidth of 3Mbps where two individual T-1s can still only use a maximum of 1.5Mbps at one time. To be bonded the T-1 must run into the same router at the end, meaning they must run to the same ISP.

• T-1 Lines support speeds of 1.544 Mbps

• Fractional T-1 speeds are 64 Kbps per channel (up to 1.544 Mbps), depending on number of leased channels.

• Typical Bonded T-1 (two bonded T-1 lines) speed is around 3 Mbps.

T-3 Lines

T-3 lines are dedicated phone connections supporting data rates of about 43 to 45 Mbps. It too is a popular leased line option. A T-3 line actually consists of 672 individual channels, each of which supports 64 Kbps. T-3 lines are used mainly by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) connecting to the Internet backbone and for the backbone itself.

• Typical T-3 supports speeds ranging from 43 to 45 Mbps.

OC3

Short for Optical Carrier, level 3 it is used to specify the speed of fiber optic networks conforming to the SONET standard. OC3 is typically used as a fiber optic backbone for large networks with large voice, data, video, and traffic needs.

• Speeds are 155.52 Mbps, or roughly the speed of 100 T1 lines.

Satellite

Internet over Satellite (IoS) allows a user to access the Internet via a satellite that orbits the earth. A satellite is placed at a static point above the earth’s surface, in a fixed position. Because of the enormous distances signals must travel from the earth up to the satellite and back again, IoS is slightly slower than high-speed terrestrial connections over copper or fiber optic cables.

• Typical Internet over Satellite connection speeds (standard IP services) average around 492 up to 512 Kbps.

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Protocols of Internet

Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP)

The Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) is an encapsulation of the Internet Protocol designed to work over serial ports and modem connections. It is documented in RFC 1055. On personal computers, SLIP has been largely replaced by the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), which is better engineered, has more features and does not require its IP address configuration to be set before it is established. On microcontrollers, however, SLIP is still the preferred way of encapsulating IP packets due to its very small overhead.

SLIP modifies a standard TCP/IP datagram by appending a special “SLIP END” character to it, which distinguishes datagram boundaries in the byte stream. SLIP requires a serial port configuration of 8 data bits, no parity, and either EIA hardware flow control, or CLOCAL mode (3-wire null-modem) UART operation settings.

SLIP does not provide error detection, being reliant on upper layer protocols for this. Therefore SLIP on its own is not satisfactory over an error-prone dial-up connection. It is however still useful for testing operating systems’ response capabilities under load (by looking at flood-ping statistics).

SLIP is also currently used in the Blue Core Serial Protocol for communication between Bluetooth modules and host computers.

CSLIP

A version of SLIP with header compression is called Compressed SLIP (CSLIP). The compression algorithm used in CSLIP is known as Van Jacobson TCP/IP Header Compression. CSLIP has no effect on the data payload of a packet and is independent of any compression by the serial line modem used for transmission. It reduces the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) header from 20 bytes to seven bytes. CSLIP has no effect on User Datagram Protocol (UDP) data grams.

Introduction to TCP/IP

Summary: TCP and IP were developed by a Department of Defense (DOD) research project to connect a number different networks designed by different vendors into a network of networks (the “Internet”). It was initially successful because it delivered a few basic services that everyone needs (file transfer, electronic mail, remote logon) across a very large number of client and server systems. Several computers in a small department can use TCP/IP (along with other protocols) on a single LAN. The IP component provides routing from the department to the enterprise network, then to regional networks, and finally to the global Internet. On the battlefield a communications network will sustain damage, so the DOD designed TCP/IP to be robust and automatically recover from any node or phone line failure. This design allows the construction of very large networks with less central management. However, because of the automatic recovery, network problems can go undiagnosed and uncorrected for long periods of time.

As with all other communications protocol, TCP/IP is composed of layers:

• IP - is responsible for moving packet of data from node to node. IP forwards each packet based on a four byte destination address (the IP number). The Internet authorities assign ranges of numbers to different organizations. The organizations assign groups of their numbers to departments. IP operates on gateway machines that move data from department to organization to region and then around the world.

• TCP - is responsible for verifying the correct delivery of data from client to server. Data can be lost in the intermediate network. TCP adds support to detect errors or lost data and to trigger retransmission until the data is correctly and completely received.

• Sockets - is a name given to the package of subroutines that provide access to TCP/IP on most systems.

Network of Lowest Bidders

The Army puts out a bid on a computer and DEC wins the bid. The Air Force puts out a bid and IBM wins. The Navy bid is won by Unisys. Then the President decides to invade Grenada and the armed forces discover that their computers cannot talk to each other. The DOD must build a “network” out of systems each of which, by law, was delivered by the lowest bidder on a single contract.

The Internet Protocol was developed to create a Network of Networks (the “Internet”). Individual machines are first connected to a LAN (Ethernet or Token Ring). TCP/IP shares the LAN with other uses (a Novell file server, Windows for Workgroups peer systems). One device provides the TCP/IP connection between the LAN and the rest of the world.

To insure that all types of systems from all vendors can communicate, TCP/IP is absolutely standardized on the LAN. However, larger networks based on long distances and phone lines are more volatile. In the US, many large corporations would wish to reuse large internal networks based on IBM’s SNA. In Europe, the national phone companies traditionally standardize on X.25. However, the sudden explosion of high speed microprocessors, fiber optics, and digital phone systems has created a burst of new options: ISDN, frame relay, FDDI, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). New technologies arise and become obsolete within a few years. With cable TV and phone companies competing to build the National Information Superhighway, no single standard can govern citywide, nationwide, or worldwide communications.

The original design of TCP/IP as a Network of Networks fits nicely within the current technological uncertainty. TCP/IP data can be sent across a LAN, or it can be carried within an internal corporate SNA network, or it can piggyback on the cable TV service. Furthermore, machines connected to any of these networks can communicate to any other network through gateways supplied by the network vendor.

Addresses

Each technology has its own convention for transmitting messages between two machines within the same network. On a LAN, messages are sent between machines by supplying the six byte unique identifier (the “MAC” address). In an SNA network, every machine has Logical Units with their own network address. DECNET, Appletalk, and Novell IPX all have a scheme for assigning numbers to each local network and to each workstation attached to the network.

On top of these local or vendor specific network addresses, TCP/IP assigns a unique number to every workstation in the world. This “IP number” is a four byte value that, by convention, is expressed by converting each byte into a decimal number (0 to 255) and separating the bytes with a period. For example, the PC Lube and Tune server is 130.132.59.234.

An organization begins by sending electronic mail to [email protected] requesting assignment of a network number. It is still possible for almost anyone to get assignment of a number for a small “Class C” network in which the first three bytes identify the network and the last byte identifies the individual computer. The author followed this procedure and was assigned the numbers 192.35.91.* for a network of computers at his house. Larger organizations can get a “Class B” network where the first two bytes identify the network and the last two bytes identify each of up to 64 thousand individual workstations. Yale’s Class B network is 130.132, so all computers with IP address 130.132.*.* are connected through Yale.

The organization then connects to the Internet through one of a dozen regional or specialized network suppliers. The network vendor is given the subscriber network number and adds it to the routing configuration in its own machines and those of the other major network suppliers.

There is no mathematical formula that translates the numbers 192.35.91 or 130.132 into “Yale University” or “New Haven, CT.” The machines that manage large regional networks or the central Internet routers managed by the National Science Foundation can only locate these networks by looking each network number up in a table. There are potentially thousands of Class B networks, and millions of Class C networks, but computer memory costs are low, so the tables are reasonable. Customers that connect to the Internet, even customers as large as IBM, do not need to maintain any information on other networks. They send all external data to the regional carrier to which they subscribe, and the regional carrier maintains the tables and does the appropriate routing.

New Haven is in a border state, split 50-50 between the Yankees and the Red Sox. In this spirit, Yale recently switched its connection from the Middle Atlantic regional network to the New England carrier. When the switch occurred, tables in the other regional areas and in the national spine had to be updated, so that traffic for 130.132 was routed through Boston instead of New Jersey. The large network carriers handle the paperwork and can perform such a switch given sufficient notice. During a conversion period, the university was connected to both networks so that messages could arrive through either path.

Subnets

Although the individual subscribers do not need to tabulate network numbers or provide explicit routing, it is convenient for most Class B networks to be internally managed as a much smaller and simpler version of the larger network organizations. It is common to subdivide the two bytes available for internal assignment into a one byte department number and a one byte workstation ID.

The enterprise network is built using commercially available TCP/IP router boxes. Each router has small tables with 255 entries to translate the one byte department number into selection of a destination Ethernet connected to one of the routers. Messages to the PC Lube and Tune server (130.132.59.234) are sent through the national and New England regional networks based on the 130.132 part of the number. Arriving at Yale, the 59 department ID selects an Ethernet connector in the C& IS building. The 234 selects a particular workstation on that LAN. The Yale network must be updated as new Ethernets and departments are added, but it is not effected by changes outside the university or the movement of machines within the department.

A Uncertain Path

Every time a message arrives at an IP router, it makes an individual decision about where to send it next. There is concept of a session with a preselected path for all traffic. Consider a company with facilities in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta. It could build a network from four phone lines forming a loop (NY to Chicago to LA to Atlanta to NY). A message arriving at the NY router could go to LA via either Chicago or Atlanta. The reply could come back the other way.

How does the router make a decision between routes? There is no correct answer. Traffic could be routed by the “clockwise” algorithm (go NY to Atlanta, LA to Chicago). The routers could alternate, sending one message to Atlanta and the next to Chicago. More sophisticated routing measures traffic patterns and sends data through the least busy link.

If one phone line in this network breaks down, traffic can still reach its destination through a roundabout path. After losing the NY to Chicago line, data can be sent NY to Atlanta to LA to Chicago. This provides continued service though with degraded performance. This kind of recovery is the primary design feature of IP. The loss of the line is immediately detected by the routers in NY and Chicago, but somehow this information must be sent to the other nodes. Otherwise, LA could continue to send NY messages through Chicago, where they arrive at a “dead end.” Each network adopts some Router Protocol which periodically updates the routing tables throughout the network with information about changes in route status.

If the size of the network grows, then the complexity of the routing updates will increase as will the cost of transmitting them. Building a single network that covers the entire US would be unreasonably complicated. Fortunately, the Internet is designed as a Network of Networks. This means that loops and redundancy are built into each regional carrier. The regional network handles its own problems and reroutes messages internally. Its Router Protocol updates the tables in its own routers, but no routing updates need to propagate from a regional carrier to the NSF spine or to the other regions (unless, of course, a subscriber switches permanently from one region to another).

Undiagnosed Problems

IBM designs its SNA networks to be centrally managed. If any error occurs, it is reported to the network authorities. By design, any error is a problem that should be corrected or repaired. IP networks, however, were designed to be robust. In battlefield conditions, the loss of a node or line is a normal circumstance. Casualties can be sorted out later on, but the network must stay up. So IP networks are robust. They automatically (and silently) reconfigure themselves when something goes wrong. If there is enough redundancy built into the system, then communication is maintained.

In 1975 when SNA was designed, such redundancy would be prohibitively expensive, or it might have been argued that only the Defense Department could afford it. Today, however, simple routers cost no more than a PC. However, the TCP/IP design that, “Errors are normal and can be largely ignored,” produces problems of its own.

Data traffic is frequently organized around “hubs,” much like airline traffic. One could imagine an IP router in Atlanta routing messages for smaller cities throughout the Southeast. The problem is that data arrives without a reservation. Airline companies experience the problem around major events, like the Super Bowl. Just before the game, everyone wants to fly into the city. After the game, everyone wants to fly out. Imbalance occurs on the network when something new gets advertised. Adam Curry announced the server at “mtv.com” and his regional carrier was swamped with traffic the next day. The problem is that messages come in from the entire world over high speed lines, but they go out to mtv.com over what was then a slow speed phone line.

Occasionally a snow storm cancels flights and airports fill up with stranded passengers. Many go off to hotels in town. When data arrives at a congested router, there is no place to send the overflow. Excess packets are simply discarded. It becomes the responsibility of the sender to retry the data a few seconds later and to persist until it finally gets through. This recovery is provided by the TCP component of the Internet protocol.

TCP was designed to recover from node or line failures where the network propagates routing table changes to all router nodes. Since the update takes some time, TCP is slow to initiate recovery. The TCP algorithms are not tuned to optimally handle packet loss due to traffic congestion. Instead, the traditional Internet response to traffic problems has been to increase the speed of lines and equipment in order to say ahead of growth in demand.

TCP treats the data as a stream of bytes. It logically assigns a sequence number to each byte. The TCP packet has a header that says, in effect, “This packet starts with byte 379642 and contains 200 bytes of data.” The receiver can detect missing or incorrectly sequenced packets. TCP acknowledges data that has been received and retransmits data that has been lost. The TCP design means that error recovery is done end-to-end between the Client and Server machine. There is no formal standard for tracking problems in the middle of the network, though each network has adopted some ad hoc tools.

Need to Know

There are three levels of TCP/IP knowledge. Those who administer a regional or national network must design a system of long distance phone lines, dedicated routing devices, and very large configuration files. They must know the IP numbers and physical locations of thousands of subscriber networks. They must also have a formal network monitor strategy to detect problems and respond quickly.

Each large company or university that subscribes to the Internet must have an intermediate level of network organization and expertise. A half dozen routers might be configured to connect several dozen departmental LANs in several buildings. All traffic outside the organization would typically be routed to a single connection to a regional network provider.

However, the end user can install TCP/IP on a personal computer without any knowledge of either the corporate or regional network. Three pieces of information are required:

• The IP address assigned to this personal computer

• The part of the IP address (the subnet mask) that distinguishes other machines on the same LAN (messages can be sent to them directly) from machines in other departments or elsewhere in the world (which are sent to a router machine)

• The IP address of the router machine that connects this LAN to the rest of the world.

In the case of the PCLT server, the IP address is 130.132.59.234. Since the first three bytes designate this department, a “subnet mask” is defined as 255.255.255.0 (255 is the largest byte value and represents the number with all bits turned on). It is a Yale convention (which we recommend to everyone) that the router for each department have station number 1 within the department network. Thus the PCLT router is 130.132.59.1. Thus the PCLT server is configured with the values:

• My IP address: 130.132.59.234

• Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

• Default router: 130.132.59.1

The subnet mask tells the server that any other machine with an IP address beginning 130.132.59.* is on the same department LAN, so messages are sent to it directly. Any IP address beginning with a different value is accessed indirectly by sending the message through the router at 130.132.59.1 (which is on the departmental LAN).

Point-to-point protocol

In networking, the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) is a data link protocol commonly used in establishing a direct connection between two networking nodes. It can provide connection authentication, transmission encryption (using ECP, RFC 1968), and compression.

PPP is used over many types of physical networks including serial cable, phone line, trunk line, cellular telephone, specialized radio links, and fiber optic links such as SONET. PPP is also used over Internet access connections (now marketed as “broadband”). Internet service providers (ISPs) have used PPP for customer dial-up access to the Internet, since IP packets cannot be transmitted over a modem line on their own, without some data link protocol. Two encapsulated forms of PPP, Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) and Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM (PPPoA), are used most commonly by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to establish a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet service connection with customers.

PPP is commonly used as a data link layer protocol for connection over synchronous and asynchronous circuits, where it has largely superseded the older Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) and telephone company mandated standards (such as Link Access Protocol, Balanced (LAPB) in the X.25 protocol suite). PPP was designed to work with numerous network layer protocols, including Internet Protocol (IP), TRILL, Novell’s Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX), NBF and AppleTalk.

PPP Configuration Options

• Authentication - Peer routers exchange authentication messages. Two authentication choices are [Authentication Protocol] (PAP) and [Handshake Authentication Protocol] (CHAP). Authentication is explained in the next section.

• Compression - Increases the effective throughput on PPP connections by reducing the amount of data in the frame that must travel across the link. The protocol decompresses the frame at its destination. See RFC 1962 for more details.

• Error detection - Identifies fault conditions. The Quality and Magic Number options help ensure a reliable, loop-free data link. The Magic Number field helps in detecting links that are in a looped-back condition. Until the Magic-Number Configuration Option has been successfully negotiated, the Magic-Number must be transmitted as zero. Magic numbers are generated randomly at each end of the connection.

• Multilink - Provides load balancing several interfaces used by PPP through Multilink PPP .

• Submitted by Naneetha.R, II MA Communication, April, 2012.

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Cloud computing

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like the electricity grid.
Cloud computing is a paradigm shift following the shift from mainframe to client–server in the early 1980s. Details are abstracted from the users, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure “in the cloud” that supports them. Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources. It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet. This frequently takes the form of web-based tools or applications that users can access and use through a web browser as if it were a program installed locally on their own computer. NIST provides a somewhat more objective and specific definition here. The term “cloud” is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network, and later to depict the Internet in computer network diagrams as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents. Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online that are accessed from another Web service or software like a Web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers. A key element of cloud computing is customization and the creation of a user-defined experience.
Most cloud computing infrastructures consist of services delivered through common centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for all consumers’ computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers, and typically include SLAs. The major cloud service providers include Microsoft, Salesforce, Skytap, HP, IBM, Amazon and Google.
Characteristics
In general, cloud computing customers do not own the physical infrastructure, instead avoiding capital expenditure by renting usage from a third-party provider. They consume resources as a service and pay only for resources that they use. Many cloud-computing offerings employ the utility computing model, which is analogous to how traditional utility services (such as electricity) are consumed, whereas others bill on a subscription basis. Sharing “perishable and intangible” computing power among multiple tenants can improve utilization rates, as servers are not unnecessarily left idle (which can reduce costs significantly while increasing the speed of application development). A side-effect of this approach is that overall computer usage rises dramatically, as customers do not have to engineer for peak load limits. In addition, “increased high-speed bandwidth” makes it possible to receive the same response times from centralized infrastructure at other sites.
Economics
Cloud computing users avoid capital expenditure (CapEx) on hardware, software, and services when they pay a provider only for what they use. Consumption is usually billed on a utility (resources consumed, like electricity) or subscription (time-based, like a newspaper) basis with little or no upfront cost. Other benefits of this approach are low barriers to entry, shared infrastructure and costs, low management overhead, and immediate access to a broad range of applications. In general, users can terminate the contract at any time (thereby avoiding return on investment risk and uncertainty), and the services are often covered by service level agreements (SLAs) with financial penalties.
According to Nicholas Carr, the strategic importance of information technology is diminishing as it becomes standardized and less expensive. He argues that the cloud computing paradigm shift is similar to the displacement of electricity generators by electricity grids early in the 20th century.
Although companies might be able to save on upfront capital expenditures, they might not save much and might actually pay more for operating expenses. In situations where the capital expense would be relatively small, or where the organization has more flexibility in their capital budget than their operating budget, the cloud model might not make great fiscal sense. Other factors impacting the scale of any potential cost savings include the efficiency of a company’s data center as compared to the cloud vendor’s, the company’s existing operating costs, the level of adoption of cloud computing, and the type of functionality being hosted in the cloud.
Among the items that some cloud hosts charge for are instances (often with extra charges for high-memory or high-CPU instances); data transfer in and out; storage (measured by the GB-month); I/O requests; PUT requests and GET requests; IP addresses; and load balancing. In some cases, users can bid on instances, with pricing dependent on demand for available instances.
History
The underlying concept of cloud computing dates back to 1960s, when John McCarthy opined that “computation may someday be organized as a public utility”. Almost all the modern day characteristics of cloud computing (elastic provision, provided as a utility, online, illusion of infinite supply), the comparison to the electricity industry and the use of public, private, government and community forms was thoroughly explored in Douglas Parkhill’s, 1966 book, “The Challenge of the Computer Utility”.
The actual term “cloud” borrows from telephony in that telecommunications companies, who until the 1990s primarily offered dedicated point-to-point data circuits, began offering Virtual Private Network (VPN) services with comparable quality of service but at a much lower cost. By switching traffic to balance utilization as they saw fit they were able to utilise their overall network bandwidth more effectively. The cloud symbol was used to denote the demarcation point between that which was the responsibility of the provider from that of the user. Cloud computing extends this boundary to cover servers as well as the network infrastructure.
Amazon played a key role in the development of cloud computing by modernizing their data centers after the dot-com bubble, which, like most computer networks, were using as little as 10% of their capacity at any one time just to leave room for occasional spikes. Having found that the new cloud architecture resulted in significant internal efficiency improvements whereby small, fast-moving “two-pizza teams” could add new features faster and easier, Amazon initiated a new product development effort to provide cloud computing to external customers and launched Amazon Web Service (AWS) on a utility computing basis in 2006.
In 2007, Google, IBM, and a number of universities embarked on a large scale cloud computing research project. In early 2008, Eucalyptus became the first open source AWS API compatible platform for deploying private clouds. By mid-2008, Gartner saw an opportunity for cloud computing “to shape the relationship among consumers of IT services, those who use IT services and those who sell them”, and observed that “organisations are switching from company-owned hardware and software assets to per-use service-based models” so that the “projected shift to cloud computing … will result in dramatic growth in IT products in some areas and significant reductions in other areas.”
In March 2010, Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, made his strongest statement of betting the company’s future in the cloud by proclaiming “For the cloud, we’re all in” and further stating “About 75 percent of our folks are doing entirely cloud based or entirely cloud inspired, a year from now that will be 90 percent.”
Hewlett Packard’s chief technology and chief strategy officer Shane Robison in July 2010 named the “inevitability of the cloud” as a top tenet of HP’s strategy. Cloud computing is one of eight key research focus areas for HP Labs.

Client
A cloud client consists of computer hardware and/or computer software that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or that is specifically designed for delivery of cloud services and that, in either case, is essentially useless without it. Examples include some computers, phones and other devices, operating systems and browsers.
 Application
Cloud application services or “Software as a Service (SaaS)” deliver software as a service over the Internet, eliminating the need to install and run the application on the customer’s own computers and simplifying maintenance and support.

Key characteristics include:

• Network-based access to, and management of, commercially available (i.e., not custom) software
• Activities that are managed from central locations rather than at each customer’s site, enabling customers to access applications remotely via the Web
• Application delivery that typically is closer to a one-to-many model (single instance, multi-tenant architecture) than to a one-to-one model, including architecture, pricing, partnering, and management characteristics
• Centralized feature updating, which obviates the need for downloadable patches and upgrades.

Platform
Cloud platform services or “Platform as a Service (PaaS)” deliver a computing platform and/or solution stack as a service, often consuming cloud infrastructure and sustaining cloud applications.[51] It facilitates deployment of applications without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware and software layers.
Infrastructure
Cloud infrastructure services or “Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)” delivers computer infrastructure, typically a platform virtualization environment as a service. Rather than purchasing servers, software, data center space or network equipment, clients instead buy those resources as a fully outsourced service. The service is typically billed on a utility computing basis and amount of resources consumed (and therefore the cost) will typically reflect the level of activity. It is an evolution of virtual private server offerings.[54]
Server
The servers layer consists of computer hardware and/or computer software products that are specifically designed for the delivery of cloud services, including multi-core processors, cloud-specific operating systems and combined offerings.
Deployment models
Cloud computing types
Public cloud
Public cloud or external cloud describes cloud computing in the traditional mainstream sense, whereby resources are dynamically provisioned on a fine-grained, self-service basis over the Internet, via web applications/web services, from an off-site third-party provider who and bills on a fine-grained utility computing basis.
Community cloud
A community cloud may be established where several organizations have similar requirements and seek to share infrastructure so as to realize some of the benefits of cloud computing. With the costs spread over fewer users than a public cloud (but more than a single tenant) this option is more expensive but may offer a higher level of privacy, security and/or policy compliance. Examples of community cloud include Google’s “Gov Cloud”.
Hybrid cloud
A hybrid cloud environment consisting of multiple internal and/or external providers “will be typical for most enterprises”. By integrating multiple cloud services users may be able to ease the transition to public cloud services while avoiding issues such as PCI compliance.
Another perspective on deploying a web application in the cloud is using Hybrid Web Hosting, where the hosting infrastructure is a mix between Cloud Hosting for the web server, and Managed dedicated server for the database server.
Private cloud
The concept of a Private Computer Utility was first described by Douglas Parkhill in his 1966 book “The Challenge of the Computer Utility”. The idea was based upon direct comparison with other industries (e.g. the electricity industry) and the extensive use of hybrid supply models to balance and mitigate risks.
Private cloud and internal cloud have been described as neologisms, however the concepts themselves pre-date the term cloud by 40 years. Even within modern utility industries, hybrid models still exist despite the formation of reasonably well functioning markets and the ability to combine multiple providers.
Some vendors have used the terms to describe offerings that emulate cloud computing on private networks. These (typically virtualisation automation) products offer the ability to deliver some benefits of cloud computing whilst mitigating some of the pitfalls. These offerings capitalise on data security, corporate governance, and reliability concerns during this time of transition from a product to a functioning service based industry supported by competitive marketplaces.
They have been criticized on the basis that users “still have to buy, build, and manage them” and as such do not benefit from lower up-front capital costs and less hands-on management, essentially “[lacking] the economic model that makes cloud computing such an intriguing concept”.

Submitted by Thyagarajan, MA Communication, PSGCAS, September, 2010.

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DEFINITIONS OF SEARCH ENGINE
•    A Web search engine is a tool designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other types of files.
•    An application that searches for, and retrieves, data based on some criteria, especially one that searches the Internet for documents containing specified words.
•    The software that searches an index and returns matches. Search engine is often used synonymously with spider and index, although these are separate components that work with the engine.
•    Any service generally designed to allow users to search the web or a specialized database of information. Web search engines generally have paid listings and organic listings.
•    A computer program that searches websites and then indexes them using the information it has found.
•    A web site that contains a database of information from other web sites that users can query to find specific subjects. Search engines use software programs to gather and organize information.
•    Computer program used to search and catalogue the billions of pages of information available on the web.
•    A program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found.

Search engine marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) through the use of paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.

The industry peak body Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization was founded by Barbara Coll in 2003. SEMPO is a global non-profit organization serving the search engine marketing industry and marketing professionals engaged in it. It includes search engine optimization (SEO) within its reporting, and SEO is also included in the industry definitions of SEM by Forrester Research, eMarketer, Search Engine Watch, and industry expert Danny Sullivan. The New York Times defines SEM as ‘the practice of buying paid search listings.
Typically, a search engine works by sending out a spider to fetch as many documents as possible. Another program, called an indexer, then reads these documents and creates an index based on the words contained in each document. Each search engine uses a proprietary algorithm to create its indices such that, ideally, only meaningful results are returned for each query.
Market structure
In 2006, North American advertisers spent US$9.4 billion on search engine marketing, a 62% increase over the prior year and a 750% increase over the 2002 year. The largest SEM vendors are Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter. As of 2006, SEM was growing much faster than traditional advertising and even other channels of online marketing. Because of the complex technology, a secondary “search marketing agency” market has evolved. Many marketers have difficulty understanding search engine marketing and they rely on third party agencies to manage their search marketing. December 1, 2008 marked a landmark event for SEMPO, when it was invited to ring the opening bell at NASDAQ headquarters. Chairperson Dana Todd represented SEMPO at this historic event that emphasized the value of search marketing in the Internet community.
History
As the number of sites on the Web increased in the mid-to-late 90s, search engines started appearing to help people find information quickly. Search engines developed business models to finance their services, such as pay per click programs offered by Open Text in 1996 and then Goto.com in 1998. Goto.com later changed its name to Overture in 2001, and was purchased by Yahoo! in 2003, and now offers paid search opportunities for advertisers through Yahoo! Search Marketing. Google also began to offer advertisements on search results pages in 2000 through the Google AdWords program. By 2007, pay-per-click programs proved to be primary money-makers for search engines.
Search engine optimization consultants expanded their offerings to help businesses learn about and use the advertising opportunities offered by search engines, and new agencies focusing primarily upon marketing and advertising through search engines emerged. The term “Search Engine Marketing” was proposed by Danny Sullivan in 2001 to cover the spectrum of activities involved in performing SEO, managing paid listings at the search engines, submitting sites to directories, and developing online marketing strategies for businesses, organizations, and individuals.
Some of the latest theoretical advances include Search Engine Marketing Management (SEMM). SEMM relates to activities including SEO but focuses on return on investment (ROI) management instead of relevant traffic building (as is the case of mainstream SEO). SEMM also integrates organic SEO and PayPerClick SEO. For example some of the attention is placed on the web page layout design and how content and information is displayed to the website visitor.
Ethical questions
Paid search advertising has not been without controversy, and the issue of how search engines present advertising on their search result pages has been the target of a series of studies and reports by Consumer Reports WebWatch. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also issued a letter in 2002 about the importance of disclosure of paid advertising on search engines, in response to a complaint from Commercial Alert, a consumer advocacy group with ties to Ralph Nader.
Vested interests appear to use the expression SEM to mean exclusively Pay per click advertising to the extent that the wider advertising and marketing community have accepted this narrow definition. Such usage excludes the wider search marketing community that is engaged in other forms of SEM such as Search Engine Optimization and Search Retargeting.
List of search engines
Google - global
Yahoo! - global
Bing - global
Ask.com - global
Baidu - China
Yandex - Russia
Rambler - Russia
Timway - Hong Kong
Onkosh - Arabic Search, Middle East
Ayna - Arabic Search engine, Middle East & North Africa..
by
N.R. Sujith Soori
1st Masscom, Oct, 2009.

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Amazon.com is the second most visited e-commerce site in India: Vizisense
afaqs! news bureau | afaqs! | New Delhi, October 14, 2009

An online traffic report released by Vizisense.com for September 2009 claims that US-based online shopping portal, Amazon.com – which deals in items such as books, movies, music and games – was the second most visited e-commerce website in India.

In September 2009, 1.18 million unique users landed on Amazon.com; while eBay, with 1.92 million unique users, is ranked as the top e-commerce portal in the country.

Speaking to afaqs!, Amit Bhartiya, business head, ViziSense.com, says, “It can be considered as a significant achievement for Amazon.com, as it hasn’t established its sales operations in India yet.” He adds, “We have observed that Amazon has gained a lot of traction in the last six months. It has jumped from No. 3 to No. 2, in terms of visitors.”

Amazon.com’s physical presence is restricted to three development centres in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, which look after the company’s software development work. Amazon.com does not deal in local products in India; and unlike eBay, it does not even use traditional modes of advertising to attract users to the site.

Interestingly, Amazon.com is ahead of the shopping sites of the portals, Rediff and Indiatimes. In September 2009, 9.2 lakh and 7.2 lakh users logged on to the shopping related sites of Rediff.com and Indiatimes.com, respectively.

The Vizisense report further points out that 80 per cent of the users, who landed on Amazon.com in September, were male. Moreover, 72 per cent of the overall traffic from India to Amazon.com is by users in the age group of 15-35 years. More than 50 per cent of the traffic on Amazon arrived from four states — Maharashtra (18 per cent), Tamil Nadu (16 per cent), Delhi (13 per cent) and Karnataka (8 per cent).

The findings of the ViziSense.com Top Sites monthly report are based on a panel study of nearly 50,000 Internet users in India.

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Domain Registration

Domain registration is the process by which a company or individual can secure a website domain, such as www.yoursite.com.

Once you have completed domain registration the domain becomes yours for the period of the contract, usually one year. Before registration expires it must be renewed, or the domain reverts back to being available to the general public.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) manages the international Domain Name Server (DNS) database.

ICANN insures that all registered names are unique and map properly to a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address. The IP address is the numerical address of the website that tells other computers on the Internet where to find the server host and domain.

Domain registration is available to the public via a registrar. Fees and services vary from company to company, but the process is generally inexpensive. Before a domain registration can be approved, the new name must be checked against existing names in the DNS database. The online registrar provides a field into which you can enter your desired name and hierarchy —- that is, the letters that come after the “dot.” Familiar hierarchies are .com, .net, .org, .name, .info and .biz. If the name is not already taken, it is available for domain registration.

During the domain registration process, you will be required to give contact information that will be publicly available through the WHOIS database. Anyone can go to a WHOIS search engine and enter a domain name to see who has registered it. Registrars require that this information be accurate and true. If you feel uncomfortable providing personal information, there are some registrars that will act as your proxy, supplying their information in place of your own as the contact for the domain. There may be a small fee for this service and potential drawbacks to balance against the ability to maintain your privacy, so read the Terms and Conditions carefully before deciding to opt for a domain by proxy.

Also important, be sure you will own the domain name, as some registrars maintain control over the domains they register. And be sure you retain the option to transfer the domain to another registrar, if you wish. There might be an initial period after which this becomes possible. Look for any fees that might be incurred as a result of transferring the domain. This could become important down the road if you wish to take advantage of another registrar’s products or services.

Upon completing the domain registration process, it will take a period of hours to a few days to be able to see the domain online. The domain can be “parked” with an “in construction” page that acts as a kind of placeholder. Parking a domain is very inexpensive and most registrars offer this service for a small fee to give you time to come up with content. Once a registrant is ready to supply content, a web server must host the domain. The registrar might also provide hosting services, or you may wish to transfer your domain to another web hosting company.

If you are considering domain registration, ICANN recommends dealing with an accredited registrar. These registrars have entered into an official agreement with ICANN to meet minimal requirements for providing domain registration.

How To Register a Domain Name

With hundreds of online domain registration companies available on the World Wide Web, you can register domains easily and cheaply. With the variety of registrars online, you will find a wide range of fees and prices charged for the service of registering a domain name. Some of these fees involve domain registration only while other fees might include additional services provided. The cost to register domain will depend heavily on the domain name registration company you sign up with.

When you register a domain, the minimum period of registration is usually a year, where you have the option of renewing your registration after that year is up. Most registrars will also give you the flexibility of registering your domain name for 3, 5 or even 10 years. Registering your domain for a longer term could help lower your yearly registration fee as many registration companies offer discounts if you choose to register your domain for more than a year.

One thing to keep in mind when you register domain is to maintain and keep-up the quality of your domain name. Quality domains can be easily recognized as they possess the element of effectiveness in drawing visitors to the website they represent. Keeping your domain name short will help people remember that name and will also reduce the probability of errors (spelling or otherwise) when typing that name into a web browser. You want to limit any possibility of losing potential web visitors with a long, difficulty-to-remember and complicated domain name.

Keeping your domain name as relevant to the content you intend to publish on your website, or to the nature and type of products or services you are offering on your website, will also help draw appropriate visitors to your site. By appropriate visitors, we mean people who are genuinely interested in the offerings and content of your website. If you are keeping an online business, these visitors are more likely than others to be potential customers.

Before you confirm your domain name and complete your registration, remember to check the spelling of that name to prevent any spelling errors. Once registered, it is near impossible to change the spelling of your domain name and you will be stuck with an ineffective name you may not want to use. Some registrars, however, may offer you the option of a refund (if you’ve made a mistake with your domain name) within a certain time frame after purchasing your domain. Different companies have different refund policies, so it is always wise to check all terms and conditions before signing up with any domain registrar.

Finally, we highly recommend that you register domain name with a reputable registrar. One like Active-Domain.com would be ideal as we ensure your security and are almost a guarantee of quality and timely customer service.

ICANN

What is ICANN?

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique IP addresses and domain names. It also ensures that each domain name maps to the correct IP address.

ICANN is also responsible for accrediting the domain name registrars. “Accredit” means to identify and set minimum standards for the performance of registration functions, to recognize persons or entities meeting those standards, and to enter into an accreditation agreement that sets forth the rules and procedures applicable to the provision of Registrar Services.

ICANN’s role is very limited, and it is not responsible for many issues associated with the Internet, such as financial transactions, Internet content control, spam (unsolicited commercial email), Internet gambling, or data protection and privacy.

What is InterNIC?

The InterNIC website is operated by ICANN to provide the public information regarding Internet domain name registration services.

Visit the InterNIC website to:

* Search domain records in the Registry Whois
* Find registrar contact details in the Accredited Registrar Directory
* File a registrar complaint through the Registrar Problem Report Form
* Report inaccurate Whois data through the Whois Data Problem Report Form

Is ICANN the proper authority to report spam?

No. ICANN is a private, non-profit technical coordination body for the Internet’s name and numbering systems. The content of an e-mail message, ftp file, or web page bear no inherent relation to the assigned domain name, and therefore fall outside of ICANN’s policy-making scope. If you have a problem with the way somebody is using the Internet, you should take it up directly with that person or with the applicable Internet Service Provider or governmental agency depending on the circumstances.

If you believe that Whois data was used as the source of address data for this mailing, we encourage you to complain to the sponsoring registrar. Use of Whois data to send spam is a violation of every ICANN-accredited registrar’s terms of use for Whois data.

Also, if the content is of an illegal nature, or you believe that you are being spammed in violation of the law, you may want to seek legal advice and/or bring your concerns to the attention of a relevant governmental law enforcement agency.

What is the Domain Name System?

The Domain Name System (DNS) helps users to find their way around the Internet. Every computer on the Internet has a unique address - just like a telephone number - which is a rather complicated string of numbers. It is called its “IP address” (IP stands for “Internet Protocol”). IP Addresses are hard to remember. The DNS makes using the Internet easier by allowing a familiar string of letters (the “domain name”) to be used instead of the arcane IP address. So instead of typing 207.151.159.3, you can type www.internic.net. It is a “mnemonic” device that makes addresses easier to remember.

What does it mean to “register” a domain name?

The Internet domain name system (DNS) consists of a directory, organized hierarchically, of all the domain names and their corresponding computers registered to particular companies and persons using the Internet. When you register a domain name, it will be associated with the computer on the Internet you designate during the period the registration is in effect. From that computer, you can create a website which will be accessible to Internet users around the world.

What are the rules for registration of gTLD names?

The rules vary depending on the nature of the gTLD. For an overview of all gTLDs, see http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html. You can get additional information on how to register gTLD names by contacting an ICANN-accredited registrar. A list of all ICANN-accredited registrars is also available here.

Are gTLD names available for registration on a global basis?

Yes, these domains are available for registration by Internet users across the globe; also, ICANN-accredited registrars are located in countries around the world.

* View a list of Domain Name Registrars Sorted by Country

I’ve seen domain names ending with two-letter combinations, like .uk. What are the rules for registering in these domains?

Two letter domains, such as .uk, .de and .jp (for example), are called country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) and correspond to a country, territory, or other geographic location. The rules and policies for registering ccTLDs vary significantly and a number of ccTLDs are reserved for use by citizens of the corresponding country.

Some ICANN-accredited registrars provide registration services in the ccTLDs, however, ICANN does not accredit registrars or set registration policies for ccTLDs. For details about ccTLD registration policies, you should contact the designated country code manager.

* View a list of all delegated ccTLDs & their designated managers

Will my name and contact information become publicly available?

Information about who is responsible for domain names is publicly available to allow rapid resolution of technical problems and to permit enforcement of consumer protection, trademark, and other laws. The registrar will make this information available to the public on a “Whois” site. It is however possible to register a domain in the name of a third party, as long as they agree to accept responsibility — ask your registrar for further details.

How long does a registration last? Can it be renewed?

Each registrar has the flexibility to offer initial and renewal registrations in one-year increments, provided that the maximum remaining unexpired term shall not exceed ten years.

I already have a domain name registered, but I don’t know who the sponsoring registrar is. How can I find out which company I registered my domain with?

To access information regarding registered domains; please go to the InterNIC Registry Whois Service. For some top-level domains, the results of a successful search will contain only technical information about the registered domain name and referral information for the registrar of the domain name. In the Shared Registration System model, registrars are responsible for maintaining Whois domain name contact information. Please refer to the registrar’s Whois service for additional information.

Can I change registrars after registering a domain name?

Yes, you may change the registrar sponsoring your domain name (beginning 60 days after initial registration). For details on the transfer process, contact the registrar you would like to assume sponsorship of the registration.

* Registrar Directory

I have seen advertisements for domain-name registration by companies not in the accredited registrar directory. Are these legitimate?

Many companies that are not accredited by ICANN offer domain registration services — some are reselling names obtained from accredited registrars. ICANN recommends that you deal directly with an accredited registrar.

* View a complete list of ICANN-Accredited Registrars

Someone else has registered my company’s name as a domain name. What is the process for resolving my complaint?

All ICANN-accredited registrars follow a uniform dispute resolution policy. Under that policy, disputes over entitlement to a domain-name registration are ordinarily resolved by court litigation between the parties claiming rights to the registration. Once the court rules on who is entitled to the registration, the registrar will implement that ruling. In disputes arising from registrations allegedly made abusively (such as “cyber-squatting” and ?cyber-piracy”), the uniform policy provides an expedited administrative procedure to allow the dispute to be resolved without the cost and delays often encountered in court litigation. In these cases, you can invoke the administrative procedure by filing a complaint with one of the dispute-resolution service providers.

* Learn more about ICANN’s Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy
* Visit UDRP Frequently Asked Questions on the InterNIC website
* View a list of ICANN’s Approved UDRP Providers

If I have customer service questions or problems related to my domain name registration, whom should I contact?

You should contact the registrar that registered your domain name.

* How do I find out who my registrar is?
* Find registrar contact details in the Accredited Registrar Directory

If I’m having a problem with my registrar, should I report it to ICANN?

If you have a problem with one of the registrars, you should first try to resolve it with that registrar.

If you cannot resolve your complaint with the registrar, you should address it to private-sector agencies involved in addressing customer complaints or governmental consumer-protection agencies. The appropriate agency will vary depending on the jurisdiction of the registrar and the customer.

All registrars with direct access to the .aero, .biz, .com, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, .net, ,.org, and .pro registries are accredited for this purpose by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN does not resolve individual customer complaints. ICANN is a technical-coordination body. Its primary objective is to coordinate the Internet’s system of assigned names and numbers to promote stable operation.

Although ICANN’s limited technical mission does not include resolving individual customer-service complaints, ICANN does monitor such complaints to discern trends. If you would like to submit a complaint about a registrar for ICANN’s records, please use the Registrar Problem Report Form located at the InterNIC website. As a courtesy, ICANN will forward your complaint to the registrar for review and further handling. (Please note that there is no guarantee that the registrar will reply.)

* Find registrar contact details in the Accredited Registrar Directory
* Submit a registrar complaint through the Registrar Problem Report Form

My registrar won’t let me transfer my domain, what do I do?

If you’re having trouble transferring your domain from one registrar to another, you should contact the registrar you want to transfer to for assistance. If your preferred registrar is having any trouble processing your transfer, your registrar can obtain assistance from ICANN or the registry operator as appropriate.

Registrars are not permitted to deny transfer requests arbitrarily. ICANN has no policy that permits or requires registrars to deny outgoing transfer requests solely because the registration is within X number of days before expiration. In any case where a “losing” registrar does deny a transfer request, it is required to provide the “gaining” registrar with a notice of the denial and a specific reason for the denial.

For your reference, the “Policy on Transfer of Sponsorship of Registrations Between Registrars” is set forth in Exhibit B to the Registry-Registrar Agreement. For details on updates to ICANN’s transfer policies, please refer to <http://www.icann.org/transfers/>.

I want a domain that has recently expired, but the registrar won’t release it. How can I get the name?

Section 3.7.5 of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement requires registrars to delete domain registrations after a second notice and a grace period, unless there are “extenuating circumstances.” Some examples of such “extenuating circumstances” might include ownership disputes, payment disputes, or lame server delegations. Only the registrar would know exactly why it hasn’t yet deleted a particular name. No specific dates or deadlines are prescribed in the current provisions.

ICANN has not yet adopted a uniform policy concerning the handling of expired domain names. If you’re interested in helping to craft such a policy, you can learn more about ICANN’s bottom-up, consensus-based process for making new policies at ICANN’s website.

* Participate in ICANN

The Accredited Registrar Directory

The following companies have been accredited by ICANN to act as registrars in one or more TLDs:

Alphabetical Listing by Company/Organization Name

Listing by Location of Registrar

Listing by Language Supported

Since new accredited registrars are establishing registration services on an ongoing basis, this directory will be updated frequently. It is suggested that you refer to this directory often for new, up-to-date information.

For information on the ICANN registrar accreditation process, please refer to the ICANN Accredited Registrar Information Page.

Submitted by T.Padmanabhan, First  M.A., Communication, PSG CAS, Coimbatore, October, 2009

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GROWTH OF INTERNET IN INDIA

The Internet revolution seems to be in full swing, in India.

In recent years, internet in India has evolved such that users who used to be primarily information seekers have now started to create a web identity via expression. There has been significant growth in community content driven services like wikis, blogs etc in India.

As the Internet spins a web of inter connectivity around the globe, as it grows literally by the hour, India is struggling, not to catch up but to keep from falling further and further behind.

Inside India, things do seem to be improving.  Five years ago there was limited Internet access but only in a few major cities, all in the hands of the government.

VSNL, the agency responsible for Internet activities, and the DOT (Department of Telecommunications) provided an agonizingly erratic connectivity, with miserly bandwidth and far too few phone lines.  Connection rates ran as low as 5% (for every 20 dialups you might get connected once) and users were frequently cut off.  And the rates for this pathetic level of service were among the highest in the world.  Domestic users paid about $2 per hour, and lease lines, for the few companies that could afford them, ranged over $2000 per month for a 64 Kpbs line.

By the end of 1998, after three years of government monopoly, there were barely 150,000 Internet connections in India.

Today (midyear 2008) the government monopoly is largely over.  Dozens of small to large Internet Service Providers have set up shop, triggering a price war and an improvement of service.  Users are now over 50 million

.  Small Internet kiosks have set up even in small towns, and the governments, both State and Central are pushing for growth in the Internet sector.  Internet is the new buzzword.  The many small tutorial colleges that pushed computer software courses of variable quality are now in a hardsell scramble to push Net related content.  The Internet represents the new wealth frontier for the middle classes - a good salary and a clean job, and for a few, the chance to go abroad.

There has been a great increase in Indian content on the Internet.  Many net entrepreneurs have been quick to realize the huge potential of the global market.  Initially, most sites targeted the global Diaspora of Overseas Indians who had more access to the Internet, not to mention the credit cards that drive Net commerce.  But there is a growing realization that the Net can reach the large and wealthy Indian Middle class.  This group is rapidly plugging into the Net (still out of range for most people here) and there is increased use of credit cards.

Additionally, Business to Business (B2B) transactions are on the increase though there is no accurate estimate of the current or projected volumes.  For Indian businesses interested in an overseas market the Net provides an efficient medium of communications - a factor that has retarded a great deal of trade in the past.

Email and web sites are available 24 hours a day.  And for the large and growing software industry, the Internet offers the ability to reach a client, respond to problems on a real time basis, and transfer products instantly with the click of a mouse.  India exports billions of dollars of software annually, and the industry is growing rapidly.  The Internet represents so much potential for India, and the demand for efficient Internet infrastructure is growing rapidly.  This is where India has been failing.  The demand has not yet been met efficiently and this represents an enormous barrier to business and societal development.

Even the government, which has monopolized infrastructure development until recently, has recognized it must not hold back this development.  They have opened the industry to private entrants and promised support.  In practice, though, the vast bureaucracies that implement (theoretically) the government programs have moved sluggishly and ineffectively.

For instance, the private ISPs that were allowed were initially required to acquire their bandwidth from VSNL which wanted a country wide monopoly on this lucrative sector.  The result, new users signing up competed for increasingly limited bandwidth.  Now the ISPs have been allowed to establish their own gateways but the effect has not yet been felt extensively.  The DOT, responsible for providing phone lines to ISPs lagged way behind and the new providers are often left with far too few lines to service the increased demand.
Some cities in India have developed more efficiently than others.  Reports suggest that Bangalore and Madras currently offer better bandwidth.  Of course, this is all relative to the pathetic service people were forced to put up with in the past.  Hyderabad, where the INDAX offices are located, is trying to promote a cyber savvy image, but the reality is still very poor.  We cannot justify a lease line (though reports are that prices are due to drop significantly soon), but rely on a dial up connection that only really works well in the early hours of the morning or late at night.  It is not unusual to be unable to get a productive connection for hours at a time during the day, even though we use four or more ISPs.  And this poor connectivity still costs us hundreds of dollars a month.  Needless to day, the frustration is acute.  Not to mention loss of productivity.  Our experience, multiplied by that of millions of other small business across the country, amounts to billions of dollars of lost potential business each year. This is a horrific waste.

In developed countries, telephone networks had basically reached saturation when the Internet arrived.  The problem was primarily to provide the increased bandwidth and line usage the Net demands.  In India the telephone network is antiquated, overextended and only reaches a fraction of the population which is interested in getting a phone.  Internet demand is straining the telephone system further.

Private ISPs have entered the arena, and though they were initially stymied by both uncooperative government agencies and by lack of existing infrastructure, there is some promise here.  There are also experiments with wireless and cable connections, but even here an antiquated infrastructure and government obstructionism are problems.  Businesses are relying more and more on aspects of the Internet.  Email, for instance, is a huge asset to companies.  And more and more companies are entering into web related business activities, like web site creation, software development, and various service oriented businesses that utilize the Net, like medical transcription or data processing for overseas companies.

In any event, it seems likely that in the future those that can pay for it will have adequate access to the great global community.  As in even developed countries, those that can’t pay for it, or lack the skills to use it, will be left behind.  Unfortunately in India, this disadvantaged group will still be the majority well into the current century.  Until the country can mobilize the resources, the education, and the infrastructure to provide a much larger section of its population both the means and the reason to access the Internet, India will not truly join the global community.

According to a joint study by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB, the consumer internet market in India is expected to grow by 30 per cent and touch Rs 9,210 crore by the end of March 2008, as against Rs 7,080 crore estimated for the fiscal year 2006-07.

The entry of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is only going to accelerate the growth of the Indian online industry. The group has allocated Rs 100 crore to be spent on its online gaming venture Zapak, and a similar amount to be spent on its social networking site BigAdda and online movie rental business BigFlicks.

Also, there is no dearth of venture capital fund to help the online entrepreneurs execute their plans and scale their online ventures as and when possible! The year 2007 witnessed a good number of Indian internet companies receiving VC fund. These included online advertising company Komli and social networking site Minglebox.com both of which received $7 million of venture financing.

The online medium currently attracts less than 2 per cent of the total ad spend in the country but the good thing is that the Indian online advertising market is believed to be growing 60 per cent year on year. Mark Read, CEO, WPP Digital, recently said, “In India we expect strong growth in the digital medium though access remains the limiting factor.”

Less than 5 per cent of India’s population have access to the internet. But again the good thing is that the picture is getting brighter with the passage of time. According to IAMAI, the number of internet users in India has increased by 40 per cent at 46 million in September 2007 as compared to 32.2 million in September 2006.

The government of India has taken an ambitious initiative to set-up 1 lakh broadband internet kiosks in the countryside to enable rural Indians access the internet. This move is only going to widen the reach of internet in the country. Already, 41 per cent of the total internet users in India are from the smaller towns and cities with less than 1 million population, according to IAMAI.

There is significant excitement for the shares of Indian online companies. The unexpectedly huge success of the Info Edge (Naukri.com)’s IPO launched a year ago is just a case in point. Not surprisingly, a number of Indian online companies including MakeMyTrip.com and People Interactive (Shaadi.com) have already expressed their intentions to go for public listing in the next 12-24 months.

Corporate houses are increasingly leveraging the internet to create brand awareness and reach their target audience. Many companies have launched brand specific websites such as SunsilkGangofGirls.com and micro sites like MentosHelpline.com. Virals, an online version of the words-of-mouth marketing, an example of which is Betano1.com, have recently gained huge traction in the country. Some of the Indian companies have also launched corporate blogs to establish an online communication channel to interact directly with their current and prospective customers.

It’s interesting to know that Google-owned video sharing site YouTube.com is one of the top 10 most visited websites by the Indian internet users. And this is when the country has less than 3 million broadband subscribers. Now, it remains to be seen how online video content is going to be leveraged by Indian marketers and recruiters for their benefits.

Advertising is going to be the main source of revenue for online publishers. Subscription model for online content is very less likely to find the netizens’ favour. The India Today group, for example, has already jettisoned the subscription model and has started making its online content freely available to the internet users.

Many people believe that the real potential of internet lies in the mobile space for the sheer number of mobile phone users in the country. But one view is that personal computers and laptops would continue to be the predominant medium of accessing the internet, at least till the mobile operators start allowing their subscribers to access the internet through their mobile phones freely and without any restriction.

Internet Usage and Population Statistics:
YEAR     Users     Population     % Pen.     Usage Source
1998     1,400,000     1,094,870,677     0.1 %     ITU
1999     2,800,000     1,094,870,677     0.3 %     ITU
2000     5,500,000     1,094,870,677     0.5 %     ITU
2001     7,000,000     1,094,870,677     0.7 %     ITU
2002     16,500,000     1,094,870,677     1.6 %     ITU
2003     22,500,000     1,094,870,677     2.1 %     ITU
2004     39,200,000     1,094,870,677     3.6 %     C.I. Almanac
2005     50,600,000     1,112,225,812     4.5 %     C.I. Almanac
2006     40,000,000     1,112,225,812     3.6 %     IAMAI
2007     42,000,000     1,129,667,528     3.7 %     IWS

. Gross national income:GNI per capita is US$ 1,140 (’04) according to World Bank.

India Internet and Telecommunications Reports

India - Key Statistics and Telecommunications Market Report

India continues to be one of the fastest growing major telecom markets in the world. Sweeping reforms introduced by successive Indian governments over the last decade have dramatically changed the nature of telecommunications in the country. The mobile sector has grown more than tenfold from 2001 to around 60 million subscribers by mid-2005.

Whilst GSM technology still dominates, CDMA has quickly grabbed 23% of this market. The mobile industry should continue to boom. Fixed-lines, although not as spectacular as mobiles, is growing solidly. This report presents the key measures of this dynamic market and takes a general look at the development and direction of the market

INDIA E-SERVICES AND INTERNET MARKET REPORT:

Despite the considerable popular interest in Internet in India, the ISP market has been in disarray. According to the telecom regulator, there were around 180 operational ISPs in the country, after a period of market rationalisation. Despite the large number of providers, 10% of the ISPs have 90% of the subscribers. The state-owned – BSNL and MTNL – have grown rapidly to hold first and second place in terms of subscribers. The growing popularity of cybercafes has been playing a big role in fuelling Internet development in India. This report looks at the ISPs and other aspects of India’s Internet market. There is also some information on Internet content and e-services

INDIA-BROADBAND AND DATA SERVICES REPORT:

India appears to have embraced the Internet with a degree of ambivalence. There is tremendous enthusiasm amongst the dial-up users and an estimated 60% of users regularly access the Internet via the country’s more than 10,000 cybercafes. But when it comes to high-speed broadband access, there is reluctance, especially within the corporate sector, and the take-up rate has been slow. By early 2005 there were about 700,000 broadband subscribers – a penetration of less 0.1%. This report looks at the stage the development of broadband Internet has reached in India. Some information is also provided on data services available in the country

India Internet usage surges

Internet adoption continues to grow in India. According to the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) the low cost of broadband has helped increase Internet usage. E-commerce and high demand for .in domain registrations are also factors for the increase in online users. The “.in” domain registrations surpassed 150,000.

Broadband policy and other initiatives by the IT and Telecom Ministry encourage increased adoption. A monthly broadband subscription costs as little as 199 rupees (US $4.50). A second factor is the IT Telecom Ministry initiative to make computers available for purchase under 10,000 rupees (US $226). In addition to working with hardware manufacturers to remove the financial barrier for households in India, the organization continues to push development of language fonts to remove language and localization of content issues.

According to IAMAI, a trade association representing the online content and advertising, e-commerce and mobile content and advertising industry, Indians go online for a number of activities including e-mail and IM (98 percent); job search (51 percent); banking (32 percent); bill payment (18 percent); stock trading (15 percent); and matrimonial search (15 percent).

SUBMITTED BY , UMA.K.S, MSw. Sep. 2009

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GROWTH OF INTERNET IN INDIA

The Internet revolution seems to be in full swing, in India.

In recent years, internet in India has evolved such that users who used to be primarily information seekers have now started to create a web identity via expression. There has been significant growth in community content driven services like wikis, blogs etc in India.

As the Internet spins a web of inter connectivity around the globe, as it grows literally by the hour, India is struggling, not to catch up but to keep from falling further and further behind.

Inside India, things do seem to be improving.  Five years ago there was limited Internet access but only in a few major cities, all in the hands of the government.  VSNL, the agency responsible for Internet activities, and the DOT (Department of Telecommunications) provided an agonizingly erratic connectivity, with miserly bandwidth and far too few phone lines.

Connection rates ran as low as 5% (for every 20 dialups you might get connected once) and users were frequently cut off.  And the rates for this pathetic level of service were among the highest in the world.  Domestic users paid about $2 per hour, and lease lines, for the few companies that could afford them, ranged over $2000 per month for a 64 Kpbs line.  By the end of 1998, after three years of government monopoly, there were barely 150,000 Internet connections in India.

Today (midyear 2000) the government monopoly is largely over.  Dozens of small to large Internet Service Providers have set up shop, triggering a price war and an improvement of service.  Users are now estimated at over 2 million, with a growth predicted to reach 50 million in the next five years.  Small Internet kiosks have set up even in small towns, and the governments, both State and Central are pushing for growth in the Internet sector.  Internet is the new buzzword.  The many small tutorial colleges that pushed computer software courses of variable quality are now in a hardsell scramble to push Net related content.  The Internet represents the new wealth frontier for the middle classes - a good salary and a clean job, and for a few, the chance to go abroad.

There has been a great increase in Indian content on the Internet.  Many net entrepreneurs have been quick to realize the huge potential of the global market.  Initially, most sites targeted the global Diaspora of Overseas Indians who had more access to the Internet, not to mention the credit cards that drive Net commerce.  But there is a growing realization that the Net can reach the large and wealthy Indian Middle class.  This group is rapidly plugging into the Net (still out of range for most people here) and there is increased use of credit cards.

Additionally, Business to Business (B2B) transactions are on the increase though there is no accurate estimate of the current or projected volumes.  For Indian businesses interested in an overseas market the Net provides an efficient medium of communications - a factor that has retarded a great deal of trade in the past.  Email and web sites are available 24 hours a day.  And for the large and growing software industry, the Internet offers the ability to reach a client, respond to problems on a real time basis, and transfer products instantly with the click of a mouse.  India exports billions of dollars of software annually, and the industry is growing rapidly.  The Internet represents so much potential for India, and the demand for efficient Internet infrastructure is growing rapidly.  This is where India has been failing.  The demand has not yet been met efficiently and this represents an enormous barrier to business and societal development.

Even the government, which has monopolized infrastructure development until recently, has recognized it must not hold back this development.  They have opened the industry to private entrants and promised support.  In practice, though, the vast bureaucracies that implement (theoretically) the government programs have moved sluggishly and ineffectively.  For instance, the private ISPs that were allowed were initially required to acquire their bandwidth from VSNL which wanted a country wide monopoly on this lucrative sector.  The result, new users signing up competed for increasingly limited bandwidth.  Now the ISPs have been allowed to establish their own gateways but the effect has not yet been felt extensively.  The DOT, responsible for providing phone lines to ISPs lagged way behind and the new providers are often left with far too few lines to service the increased demand.  Lease lines are reduced, though still very expensive - approximately $1000 per month for a 64 Kpbs line
Some cities in India have developed more efficiently than others.  Reports suggest that Bangalore and Madras currently offer better bandwidth.  Of course, this is all relative to the pathetic service people were forced to put up with in the past.  Hyderabad, where the INDAX offices are located, is trying to promote a cyber savvy image, but the reality is still very poor.  We cannot justify a lease line (though reports are that prices are due to drop significantly soon), but rely on a dial up connection that only really works well in the early hours of the morning or late at night.  It is not unusual to be unable to get a productive connection for hours at a time during the day, even though we use four or more ISPs.  And this poor connectivity still costs us hundreds of dollars a month.  Needless to day, the frustration is acute.  Not to mention loss of productivity.  Our experience, multiplied by that of millions of other small business across the country, amounts to billions of dollars of lost potential business each year. This is a horrific waste.

Looking at India from a global perspective, it is difficult to see how India can actually catch up. Advances in technology, connectivity, and usage of the net are increasing so rapidly that even in developed countries it is hard to keep up. At present, the percentage of Indians connected to the Net is less than a fraction of one percent.  Even if it soars to 50 million over the next five years, as predicted, that represents at most 5% of         the population.

In developed countries, telephone networks had basically reached saturation when the Internet arrived.  The problem was primarily to provide the increased bandwidth and line usage the Net demands.  In India the telephone network is antiquated, overextended and only reaches a fraction of the population which is interested in getting a phone.  Internet demand is straining the telephone system further.

Private ISPs have entered the arena, and though they were initially stymied by both uncooperative government agencies and by lack of existing infrastructure, there is some promise here.  There are also experiments with wireless and cable connections, but even here an antiquated infrastructure and government obstructionism are problems.  Businesses are relying more and more on aspects of the Internet.  Email, for instance, is a huge asset to companies.  And more and more companies are entering into web related business activities, like web site creation, software development, and various service oriented businesses that utilize the Net, like medical transcription or data processing for overseas companies.

In any event, it seems likely that in the future those that can pay for it will have adequate access to the great global community.  As in even developed countries, those that can’t pay for it, or lack the skills to use it, will be left behind.  Unfortunately in India, this disadvantaged group will still be the majority well into the current century.  Until the country can mobilize the resources, the education, and the infrastructure to provide a much larger section of its population both the means and the reason to access the Internet, India will not truly join the global community.

According to a joint study by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB, the consumer internet market in India is expected to grow by 30 per cent and touch Rs 9,210 crore by the end of March 2008, as against Rs 7,080 crore estimated for the fiscal year 2006-07.

The entry of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is only going to accelerate the growth of the Indian online industry. The group has allocated Rs 100 crore to be spent on its online gaming venture Zapak, and a similar amount to be spent on its social networking site BigAdda and online movie rental business BigFlicks.

Also, there is no dearth of venture capital fund to help the online entrepreneurs execute their plans and scale their online ventures as and when possible! The year 2007 witnessed a good number of Indian internet companies receiving VC fund. These included online advertising company Komli and social networking site Minglebox.com both of which received $7 million of venture financing.

The online medium currently attracts less than 2 per cent of the total ad spend in the country but the good thing is that the Indian online advertising market is believed to be growing 60 per cent year on year. Mark Read, CEO, WPP Digital, recently said, “In India we expect strong growth in the digital medium though access remains the limiting factor.”

Less than 5 per cent of India’s population have access to the internet. But again the good thing is that the picture is getting brighter with the passage of time. According to IAMAI, the number of internet users in India has increased by 40 per cent at 46 million in September 2007 as compared to 32.2 million in September 2006.

The government of India has taken an ambitious initiative to set-up 1 lakh broadband internet kiosks in the countryside to enable rural Indians access the internet. This move is only going to widen the reach of internet in the country. Already, 41 per cent of the total internet users in India are from the smaller towns and cities with less than 1 million population, according to IAMAI.

There is significant excitement for the shares of Indian online companies. The unexpectedly huge success of the Info Edge (Naukri.com)’s IPO launched a year ago is just a case in point. Not surprisingly, a number of Indian online companies including MakeMyTrip.com and People Interactive (Shaadi.com) have already expressed their intentions to go for public listing in the next 12-24 months.

Corporate houses are increasingly leveraging the internet to create brand awareness and reach their target audience. Many companies have launched brand specific websites such as SunsilkGangofGirls.com and micro sites like MentosHelpline.com. Virals, an online version of the words-of-mouth marketing, an example of which is Betano1.com, have recently gained huge traction in the country. Some of the Indian companies have also launched corporate blogs to establish an online communication channel to interact directly with their current and prospective customers.

It’s interesting to know that Google-owned video sharing site YouTube.com is one of the top 10 most visited websites by the Indian internet users. And this is when the country has less than 3 million broadband subscribers. Now, it remains to be seen how online video content is going to be leveraged by Indian marketers and recruiters for their benefits.

Advertising is going to be the main source of revenue for online publishers. Subscription model for online content is very less likely to find the netizens’ favour. The India Today group, for example, has already jettisoned the subscription model and has started making its online content freely available to the internet users.

Many people believe that the real potential of internet lies in the mobile space for the sheer number of mobile phone users in the country. But one view is that personal computers and laptops would continue to be the predominant medium of accessing the internet, at least till the mobile operators start allowing their subscribers to access the internet through their mobile phones freely and without any restriction.

India Internet Usage Stats and Telecommunications Market Report

Internet Usage and Population Statistics:
YEAR     Users     Population     % Pen.     Usage Source
1998     1,400,000     1,094,870,677     0.1 %     ITU
1999     2,800,000     1,094,870,677     0.3 %     ITU
2000     5,500,000     1,094,870,677     0.5 %     ITU
2001     7,000,000     1,094,870,677     0.7 %     ITU
2002     16,500,000     1,094,870,677     1.6 %     ITU
2003     22,500,000     1,094,870,677     2.1 %     ITU
2004     39,200,000     1,094,870,677     3.6 %     C.I. Almanac
2005     50,600,000     1,112,225,812     4.5 %     C.I. Almanac
2006     40,000,000     1,112,225,812     3.6 %     IAMAI
2007     42,000,000     1,129,667,528     3.7 %     IWS

. Gross national income:GNI per capita is US$ 1,140 (’04) according to World Bank.

India broadband subscribers:188,600 broadband subscribers as of 1Q/2004 per WMRC.

India Internet and Telecommunications Reports

India - Key Statistics and Telecommunications Market Report

India continues to be one of the fastest growing major telecom markets in the world. Sweeping reforms introduced by successive Indian governments over the last decade have dramatically changed the nature of telecommunications in the country. The mobile sector has grown more than tenfold from 2001 to around 60 million subscribers by mid-2005. Whilst GSM technology still dominates, CDMA has quickly grabbed 23% of this market. The mobile industry should continue to boom. Fixed-lines, although not as spectacular as mobiles, is growing solidly. This report presents the key measures of this dynamic market and takes a general look at the development and direction of the market

INDIA E-SERVICES AND INTERNET MARKET REPORT:

Despite the considerable popular interest in Internet in India, the ISP market has been in disarray. According to the telecom regulator, there were around 180 operational ISPs in the country, after a period of market rationalisation. Despite the large number of providers, 10% of the ISPs have 90% of the subscribers. The state-owned – BSNL and MTNL – have grown rapidly to hold first and second place in terms of subscribers. The growing popularity of cybercafes has been playing a big role in fuelling Internet development in India. This report looks at the ISPs and other aspects of India’s Internet market. There is also some information on Internet content and e-services

INDIA-BROADBAND AND DATA SERVICES REPORT:

India appears to have embraced the Internet with a degree of ambivalence. There is tremendous enthusiasm amongst the dial-up users and an estimated 60% of users regularly access the Internet via the country’s more than 10,000 cybercafes. But when it comes to high-speed broadband access, there is reluctance, especially within the corporate sector, and the take-up rate has been slow. By early 2005 there were about 700,000 broadband subscribers – a penetration of less 0.1%. This report looks at the stage the development of broadband Internet has reached in India. Some information is also provided on data services available in the country

India Internet usage surges

Internet adoption continues to grow in India. According to the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) the low cost of broadband has helped increase Internet usage. E-commerce and high demand for .in domain registrations are also factors for the increase in online users. The “.in” domain registrations surpassed 150,000.

Broadband policy and other initiatives by the IT and Telecom Ministry encourage increased adoption. A monthly broadband subscription costs as little as 199 rupees (US $4.50). A second factor is the IT Telecom Ministry initiative to make computers available for purchase under 10,000 rupees (US $226). In addition to working with hardware manufacturers to remove the financial barrier for households in India, the organization continues to push development of language fonts to remove language and localization of content issues.

According to IAMAI, a trade association representing the online content and advertising, e-commerce and mobile content and advertising industry, Indians go online for a number of activities including e-mail and IM (98 percent); job search (51 percent); banking (32 percent); bill payment (18 percent); stock trading (15 percent); and matrimonial search (15 percent).

SUBMITTED BY

UMA.K.S, 8MSW028, EPT.OF SOCIALWORK, August, 2009.

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Publication:Economic Times Chennai;  Date:Dec 3, 2008;  Section:Business & IT;  Page Number:5  
With 81 million Net users, India at 4th slot

PTI HYDERABAD

    India has been ranked fourth among the top 10 nations in the world with 81 million Internet users. United States leads the chart with 220 million Internet users followed by China (210 million) and Japan (88.1 million). Brazil comes next to India with 53.1 million users, UK 40.2 million, Germany 39.1 million, Republic of Korea 35.5 million, Italy 32 million and France 31.5 million.

    The Internet Governance Forum has released these statistics on the eve of its third four-day global conference that begins at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre on December 3. From about 70 million people (1.7% of the world population) who had access to the Internet at the end of 2007, the figure crossed 134.8 crore by 2007. Asia has the highest number of Internet users with an estimated 568.7 million people followed by the Americas with 377.9 million.

    Europe ranks third in this list with 335.9 million users and Africa and Oceania close the rank with 51.8 million and 14 million users respectively, according to the IGF. India, however, does not find place among the top ten nations in terms of broadband connections where too the US stands first with 73.2 million connections. China has 66.4 million, Japan 28.28 million, Germany 19.6 million, UK 15.6 million, France 15.5 million, Republic of Korea 14. 7 million, Italy 10.8 million, Canada 9 million and Spain 8 million broadband connections. While there were a total of 13.5 million Internet subscribers in India, representing 1.15 per 100 people, broadband subscribers accounted for five million among them.

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Number of Net users on the rise
Broadband penetration continues to be low.

“The number of users of the Internet service is only around 35-38 per thousand compared to the global penetration of 68-plus per thousand.”

L.N. Revathy  The Hindu Business Line, Dec 29, 2008.
Coimbatore, Dec 28 While Asia tops in Internet usage, North America has taken the lead in Internet penetration.

However, in India, less than 50 per cent of the people use the Internet, although the number is said to be growing by the minute. It is said to have increased 30 per cent compared to 2007.

The broadband penetration has continued to remain low at 5 million against the country’s population of over 1.2 billion.

Studies show that 91 per cent of the people in India use the Net primarily for e-mailing, while over 80 per cent use it as a social media platform. Job search, information search and instant messaging and chat account for 72, 49 and 70 per cent respectively.

While the dependence on the Net is rising leaps and bounds, cyber laws are not in place and cyber security awareness among users is pathetic, say experts.

Sharing her thoughts on Net penetration and its status in India, Ms Srishti Sofat, Country Manager, InfoSpace, said the company witnessed a 23 per cent increase in Internet users as at the end of October and 26 per cent increase in domain registrations during the first quarter of 2008 compared with the corresponding quarter of the earlier year.

“The Net is used as a tool for discovery, research, communication and efficiency,” she said.

Cyber café users
Mr Diptarup Chakraborti, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner, said while Net penetration continued to rise in the country, the number of users accessing the Net from cyber cafes (in urban areas) tended to slip in the last couple of months. He attributed this to increased PC penetration in urban areas, users sensing Net access at cyber café to be uneconomical and insistence of identity proof at browsing centres.

“The number of users of the Internet service is only around 35-38 per thousand compared to the global penetration of 68-plus per thousand. This is due to bad user experience, high level of piracy with instances of even the operating system being pirated and security concerns,” Mr Chakraborti reasoned.

Notwithstanding such concerns, the penetration of the Net has progressed from an experiment to utility and is expected to eventually entwine in the fabric of society.

Usage
The Net is used extensively to do job search, ticketing – both travel and entertainment, online trading, banking, information search and online gaming, apart from chats and e-mails.

An IAMAI’s Report on Online Banking has estimated the online banking service users at 16 million by 2008.

Though the figures are not out yet, there has been a significant rise in Internet banking over the past three years with banks offering some form of service, be it checking balance online, bill payments or simple cash transfers. Internet banking has been fuelled by broadband availability.

“Speed continues to be lower than developed economies. A new level of bandwidth augmentation is required to ensure quality experience with services such as Video on Demand. We also need a strong framework for issuance of net connections such as the process followed for cell phone,” Mr Vardhman Jain, Managing Director (Insurance and Business Process Solutions) of Perot Systems, said.

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