The growth in traffic will continue to be dominated by video, exceeding 91% of global consumer IP traffic by 2014. Improvements in network bandwidth capacity and Internet speeds, along with the increasing popularity of HDTV and 3DTV are key factors expecting to quadruple IP traffic from 2009 to 2014.
Overview
The Cisco VNI Forecast, which focuses on two primary user groups - consumers and businesses - was developed as an annual study to estimate global IP traffic growth and trends. Projections are based on Cisco analysis and modeling of traffic, usage, and device data from independent analyst sources. Cisco validates its forecast, inputs, and methodology with data provided by service providers worldwide.
To help network users better understand global IP traffic growth drivers and trends, Cisco updated several of its unique resources:
- The VNI Forecast widget provides customized views of the growth of various network traffic types around the globe (revised for this 2009 - 2014 forecast period).
- The VNI PC Pulse application for desktop and laptop computers helps consumers learn more about their individual impact on IP networks and compare their network usage with that of others around the world.
Research Highlights: Total Global IP Traffic in "Bytes"
Global IP traffic is expected to increase more than fourfold (4.3 times) from 2009 to 2014, reaching 63.9 exabytes per month in 2014, up from approximately 56 exabytes per month in 2013. This is equivalent to 766.8 exabytes per year - almost three-quarters of a zettabyte, by 2014.
The nearly 64 exabytes of global IP traffic per month projected for 2014 is equivalent to 16 billion DVDs; 21 trillion MP3's; or 399 quadrillion text messages.
Regional IP Traffic Trends
By 2014, the highest IP-traffic generating regions will be North America (19.0 exabytes per month), Asia Pacific (17.4 exabytes per month), Western Europe (16.2 exabytes per month) and Japan (4.3 exabytes per month).
The fastest growing IP-traffic regions for the forecast period (2009-2014) are Latin America (51% compound annual growth rate [CAGR], 7.9-fold growth), the Middle East and Africa (45% CAGR, 6.5-fold growth), and Central Europe (38 percent CAGR, 5.1-fold growth).
Primary Growth Driver: Video
By 2014, the sum of all forms of video (TV, VoD, Internet video, and peer-to-peer) will continue to exceed 91 percent of global consumer traffic.
Global Internet video traffic will surpass global peer-to-peer traffic by the end of 2010. For the first time in the last 10 years, peer-to-peer traffic will not be the largest Internet traffic type.
The global online video community will include more than 1 billion users by the end of 2010.
By 2014, it would take more than two years to watch the amount of video that will cross global IP networks every second; to watch all the video crossing the network that year would take 72 million years.
Global Business IP Traffic
Global business IP Traffic is forecast to reach 7.7 exabytes per month in 2014, more than tripling from 2009-2014.
Business video conferencing is projected grow ten-fold over the forecast period, growing almost three times as fast as overall business IP traffic, at a CAGR of 57 percent from 2009-2014.
Web-based video conferencing is the fastest growing sub-category, growing 180-fold from 2009-2014 (183% CAGR from 2009-2014). Consumer vs. Business
Consumer IP traffic is projected to grow faster than business:
For 2009, consumer IP traffic represented 79% of monthly total global IP traffic and business IP traffic was 21% of monthly total global IP traffic.
By 2014, consumer IP traffic (web surfing, instant messaging, user-generated videos, etc.) will represent 87% of monthly total global IP traffic; while business IP traffic (email, voice, Internet, HD and web-based video conferencing, etc.) will represent 13% of monthly total global IP traffic.
Network Speed Enables IP Traffic Growth: 2000 vs. 2010 Comparison
In just a decade, the average global residential Internet connection download speed has increased 35 times, which has helped to dramatically increase Internet usage.
In 2000, the average global residential Internet connection download speed was 127 kilobits per second (Kbps). The current (2010) average global residential Internet connection download speed is 4.4 megabits per second (Mbps.)
