The physical reality of the logical network.
The internet is not a cloud. It is 1.4 million kilometers of submarine cables, millions of BGP peering sessions, and gigawatts of data center power.
Explore Infrastructure Data1.4M km
Active submarine cables connecting continents, carrying 99% of international data traffic.
Read Cable Analysis75,000+
Autonomous Systems (AS) routing traffic via BGP, the brittle protocol holding the web together.
Analyze Routing Data4% Global Power
The estimated energy consumption of global data centers and transmission networks by 2030.
View Energy ReportsGeography Dictates Topology
Data does not flow where it wants. It flows where the fiber is laid, where power is cheap, and where governments permit.
The assumption of an end-to-end open internet is breaking down. We track the physical choke points—from the Suez Canal to the Strait of Malacca—and the logical choke points at Tier 1 peering exchanges.
Analyze Tier 1 Backbone Control →The Cost of Transit
IP transit prices have fallen 90% in the last decade, but the geography of cost remains highly uneven. Moving data between São Paulo and Miami costs dramatically more than moving it between London and New York.
| Route | Avg. Latency (ms) | Cost per Mbps (Est.) | Primary Cable Systems |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York ↔ London | ~76ms | $0.08 | Apollo, AC-2, TAT-14 (Retired) |
| Tokyo ↔ Los Angeles | ~110ms | $0.15 | FASTER, PC-1, Unity |
| São Paulo ↔ Miami | ~105ms | $0.40 | Monet, Seabras-1 |
| Mombasa ↔ Marseille | ~120ms | $1.20 | PEACE, SEA-ME-WE 5 |
Source: TeleGeography and Institute for Internet internal data, Q3 2023. View full methodology and dataset.
Splintering the Net
Data localization laws and sovereign firewalls are breaking the end-to-end principle.
From the Great Firewall to the GDPR, regulatory frameworks are forcing physical infrastructure to align with political borders. We track how legislation dictates routing.
Read Policy BriefKey Policy Areas
- Net Neutrality: Traffic shaping at the ISP level and zero-rating impacts on developing markets.
- Digital Sovereignty: Mandatory local peering and domestic data center requirements.
- Cable Security: The geopolitics of landing stations and the vulnerability of choke points like the Red Sea.
Routing the World on Trust
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) was designed in 1989 on three napkins. Today, it routes every packet on the internet based entirely on assumed trust.
Because there is no inherent authentication in BGP, networks routinely leak routes or maliciously hijack IP space. We catalog the historical data of major routing incidents that have taken entire nations offline.
Review the BGP Incident Database →Defending the Routing Table
The industry's answer to BGP vulnerabilities is RPKI (Resource Public Key Infrastructure), which uses cryptography to validate route origins. Adoption is slow but critical.
Read our RPKI Adoption ReportThe Engines of the Internet
Data centers are massive industrial facilities constrained by power availability, ambient cooling, and proximity to fiber backbones. A typical hyperscale facility consumes enough electricity to power a small city.
As AI training workloads push rack densities from 10kW to over 50kW, the industry is forcing a transition from air cooling to direct-to-chip liquid cooling.
Explore Data Center Economics
Information Should Be Concrete
We reject abstract cloud metaphors. Our research focuses on physical constraints, measurable latency, explicit transit costs, and verifiable routing policies. We provide tools for researchers to analyze this data client-side.
Research Tools
We build open tools to analyze infrastructure data. No account required. All calculations run locally in your browser.
BGP Route Analyzer
Input an AS path to visualize relationships (Transit, Peering, Customer) and detect potential valley-free routing violations.
Launch Tool →Latency Calculator
Calculate theoretical minimum latency based on the speed of light in fiber vs. actual observed RTT between major exchanges.
Launch Tool →Data Center PUE
Model the Power Usage Effectiveness of a facility based on cooling mechanisms, IT load, and external temperature data.
Launch Tool →Frequently Asked Questions
Where does this data come from?
We aggregate public BGP routing tables from RIPE RIS and Route Views, physical infrastructure maps from Submarine Cable Map, and financial data from peeringDB and public ISP tariffs. Read our full methodology.
Who actually 'owns' the internet?
No single entity. It is a network of networks. However, roughly a dozen "Tier 1" networks (like Lumen, NTT, Telia) form the transit backbone. They peer with each other settlement-free and charge smaller networks for transit. View Tier 1 analysis.
How fragile is submarine infrastructure?
Highly resilient globally, but vulnerable locally. Cables are routinely severed by ship anchors, fishing trawlers, and natural disasters. The network relies on redundancy, though physical geographic choke points exist. Review historical cable fault data.
Dig into the data.
Access our complete index of infrastructure deep-dives, policy briefs, and raw datasets.
Browse All Research