VOA慢速英语: 因特网速度更快、占用空间更小

A new report says Internet speeds around the world aregetting much faster. The report comes from Akamai, a business that provides cloud computing services. But it warns that the sharp increase in thenumber of devices connected to the World Wide Web could cause problems. The company says this increase might use up all of the remaining space that is currently available on the Internet.

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 3, 2013, people work on their computers at the British Library in London.

The report is called "State of the Internet." It examines use of the World WideWeb, Internet and mobile device data speeds, and overall strength of theweb.

Akamai releases a new version of the report every three months, at the end ofeach financial quarter. David Belson is the company's senior director ofindustry and data intelligence.

"The changes this quarter were overwhelmingly positive," he said. "[G]iven that this report tracks the same trends we've been seeing for a while, I thinkthat's a very positive sign."

The report says Internet connectivity continues to grow in every part of theworld. The total number of Internet users has reached nearly 3.2 billion. Thereare almost two connected devices for every person on the planet. The reportpredicts that number will increase to three devices per person by 2019.

The report says that worldwide, average connection speeds rose by 10percent over last year. The international average is now almost five megabitsper second.

South Koreaset a new record with an average speed of 23.6 megabits.Ireland, Hong Kong, Sweden and the Netherlands were among the top fiveareas with the fastest connections. However, less than five percent of theworld's population has access, or use, of Internet speeds of 25 megabits orhigher.

The United States still leads the world in the number of unique, or different,Internet addresses.

The report says the growth in the number of connected devices is adding to anew problem: the need for more addresses.

Most of the World Wide Web uses Internet Protocol version 4 to govern datatraffic. IPv4 has a total of 4.29 billion unique addresses for computers,computer tablets and other electronic devices to connect and direct traffic.

But billions of addresses are already being used. Experts use the term"Internet of Things" for all the physical objects that are able to connect to theInternet. Researchers are warning that as the "Internet of Things" grows, IPv4 will not have enough room in the near future.

"The IPv4 exhaustion issue has been around for many years," Mr. Belsontold VOA. "Now it's really becoming more and more imminent."

There is a new version of the web, called IPv6. It has been available for morethan 10 years. The problem, Mr. Belson said, is that Internet service providersdo not see IPv4 exhaustion as an immediate threat. If they did, they wouldchange to the new system.

I'm Jim Tedder.

VOA's Doug Bernard reported on this story for VOA news. Pete Mustoadapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

cloud computing– n. the use of the Internet instead of a physical computerto store, manage and process electronic data

quarter– n. a period of three months in a row, such as April through June

overall­– adv. as a whole

megabit – n. one million bits of electronic data

exhaustion– n. the act of using all of something

imminent – adj. happening very soon