Web Infrastructure

Webmasters, take note! Google is now in the process of launching Caffeine, a new search algorithm that will introduce some big adjustments. Among them is a new ranking feature that will change which sites get the top ranking. Google will now put a great deal more emphasis on how often …

America’s Federal Trade Commission will hold a roundtable discussion later this month on the privacy and security of cloud computing. Social networking and mobile computing will also be covered. David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated in a letter to the government agency: …the ability of …

Some had feared that the IPv4 address system might run out this year, but Internet users can now breathe a sigh of relief. According to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the organisation under ICANN that manages IPs, 10.2% of the IPv4 system is still left. That’s enough to last …

Datacentermap.com is a handy site that uses a Google Maps plugin to display the locations of nearly 1500 data centers in 65 countries around the world. It provides an interesting insight into our Internet architecture. The United States has 728 data centers on the map, more than any other country. …

This year has been a big one for both the domain and web hosting industries. Significant growth has been seen in the ccTLD market while more prominent TLDs continue to sell for record-high prices. A recession has brought more entrepreneurs and investment online, spurring heavy growth in the hosting and …

When people think of data centers, they often envision large rooms full of loud servers. This YouTube video shows the data center in a much more innovative way– its construction from start to finish, all with Lego bricks. With high-speed connections and millions of pages to visit, I think too …

In an effort to grab increasingly scarce IPv4 addresses, malware makers are now grabbing blocks of IPs. By colocating servers and requesting IPs under a fake business name, cyber criminals are snatching some of the last remaining addresses. Unfortunately, this practice is hard to track down given the shear size …

IP addresses are starting to become few and far between. In an effort to deal with the shortage, Japan is expected to allow the trading of IPs next year. Currently, millions of addresses are sitting unused and Tokyo is hoping monetary incentive will push holders to sell them. Japan is …

The introduction of Cyrillic IDNs in Russia has been hailed as a success by the government, but many Russian citizens are worried about the possible implications the domains might have on their freedom. According to a recent New York Times article, they are afraid the new names will cut the …

Data centers suck a lot of juice, but in the case of one facility, the operator found a way to meet its power needs through wind. Starting in October, a small Illinois ISP began using a 40-meter (131 feet) wind turbine to power its servers and other electrical equipment. During …