Mapping the Net

Some mathematicians devised a model to map out the internet. Here is what it looks like:


They mapped it by "nodes": internet service providers and large organizations with a lot of web traffic. Then they were grouped according to the number of links they had with other nodes.

The researchers discovered that the Internet consists of a dense, heavily connected nucleus of about 100 nodes, including Google and U.S. telecommunications giant ATT WorldNet. Surrounding this core was a region they called the 'peer-connected' component, which is able to connect to the bulk of the Internet without causing congestion in the nucleus. It is possible for data to get between any two points in the peer-connected component within about four links. The final, outermost layer is more sparsely connected, and must travel through the nucleus to reach other nodes.