December 03, 2007
ipoque Internet Study 2007: P2P File Sharing Still Dominates the Worldwide Internet
By Calvin Azuri, TMCnet Contributor
ipoque is a contributor of solutions for Internet traffic management. ipoque has analyzed the Internet traffic in five regions of the world between August and September 2007. The results have been published in a study. With complete statistics about user behavior, it provides a unique indication of the Internet's current state.
The importance of last year's ipoque survey was in peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing. This year it also includes data about:
1. Internet telephony (VoIP
)
)3. Video streaming
4. Instant messaging (IM)
5. File hosting and
6. Encrypted P2P protocols
Three petabytes of anonymous data representing over one million users in Australia, Eastern Europe, Germany, the Middle East and Southern Europe have been analyzed. The results for these diverse regions differ significantly.
"With this study we want to contribute facts to the numerous, often heated debates on these topics," Hendrik Schulze, CEO of ipoque and co-author of the study, was quoted as saying in the report.
· High Proportion of P2P, Movies most Popular:
P2P file sharing undoubtedly generates the most Internet traffic. At nighttime, P2P raises up to 95 percent. Every fifth Internet user also uses file sharing. BitTorrent is the most popular P2P protocol, but in Southern Europe eDonkey dominates. Its average share varies in Middle East by 49 percent and Eastern Europe by 84 percent.
ipoque's analysis also covers encrypted P2P protocols for the first time. Encryption is meant to provide anonymity to file sharers and evade traffic shaping and blocking by network operators. About 20 percent of BitTorrent and eDonkey traffic are already encrypted. The P2P content analysis revealed little changes compared to last year's study; Videos make up the largest proportion. The most popular titles are current movies, pornography and music. Remarkable high is the contribution of eBooks in the Middle East and computer games in Southern Europe.
Voice over IP (VoIP) only accounts for one percent of the Internet traffic, but is used by 30 percent of all users. Skype is certainly the most popular Internet telephony application. The popularity of instant messaging (IM) varies heavily from region to region; In the Middle East by 60 percent and in Germany by 17 percent.
(VoIP) only accounts for one percent of the Internet traffic, but is used by 30 percent of all users. Skype is certainly the most popular Internet telephony application. The popularity of instant messaging (IM) varies heavily from region to region; In the Middle East by 60 percent and in Germany by 17 percent.Joost (News - Alert) does not yet have a significant relevance, in spite of its high media presence. Quite the opposite can be said about Flash movies embedded in Web sites like YouTube (News - Alert), which produced considerably more traffic. Movies and other forms of video streaming generated eight percent of the Internet traffic during the assessment period.
· File Hosting:
New file sharing trend are file hosting services, such as RapidShare and MegaUpload. File hosting is also known as one-click file hosters. These are operators of web servers where random files can be uploaded. The user gets a URL pointing to the uploaded file called "Direct Download Link" (DDL).
DDL link can then be provided to other users for instance in Web forums or via e-mail. Although file hosters are only used by a relatively small number of Internet users, they are accountable for between four and nine percent of all Internet traffic.
Calvin Azuri is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page .
