The Measurement Lab Detects Internet Connectivity Problems
There are situations when a certain web based application does not work at its maximal or optimal level of performance due to various reasons such as Internet connection speed (bandwidth) value, computer hardware and more. In the present, many web based services and client side utilities to evaluate and diagnose network connection related issues exist, but the results obtained have a certain level of incertitude determined by the absence of a specialized platform designed and standardized specifically for the performing of Internet connections tests with maximal accuracy.
In order to fill this gap, Google, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium, and academic researchers were built an open platform designated for the deployment of tools for Internet connections related measurements, The Measurement Lab (M-Lab).
The Measurement Lab contains tools that help users to detect and diagnose various problems related to the actual Internet connection speed and evaluate the performance of various web based applications.
Currently, there are available only three working tools: Network Diagnostic Tool (evaluates the upload and download speed and determines if limiting factors exist by correlating the data between computer configuration and network structure), Glasnost (checks if BitTorrent is blocked or throttled) and the Network Path and Application Diagnosis utility discovers the performance issues on wide area network paths.
The Measurement Lab tools, being still in a development stage could provide inaccurate results in a certain situation, such as the reporting of a bandwidth value lower than the existing one due to the geographical position of the testing server.
The M-Lab platform is intended to be further developed with a sustained community based effort and it will represent a future key point of reference to advance the Internet research.
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