Setting the Foundations for PoP-Based Internet Evolution Models

Developing an evolution model of the Internet has been a long standing research challenge. Such a model can improve the design and placement of communication infrastructure, reducing costs and improving users’ quality of experience. While communication infrastructure is tightly coupled to geographical locations, Internet modelling and forecasting in the last decade used network elements that are only loosely bounded to any geographical location. In this paper we set the foundations for developing an evolution model of the Internet based on the Point of Presence (PoP) level. As PoPs have a strong geographical grip they can better represent the evolution of the Internet. We annotate the PoP topologies of the Internet with geographical, economic and demographic information to achieve an understanding of the dynamics of the Internet’s structure, in order to identify the constitutive laws of Internet evolution. We identify GDP as the strongest indicator on the country level, and the size of the TV market as the strongest indicator on the US metropolitan level. Finally, we draw attention to the limitations of developing a world-wide evolution model.