Each year, Cisco's annual Visual Networking Index reveals some stunning facts about how the Internet is growing. This year's forecast is no different.
Cisco predicts that the Internet will quadruple in size over the next four years. In fact, the incremental growth in Internet traffic between 2014 and 2015 will be 17.2 exabytes per month. That growth alone is roughly the amount of all global Internet traffic recorded last year.
By David Goldman
Mobile traffic is expected to grow 26-fold by 2015. It still has a lot of room to grow, however: At 6 exabytes per month, mobile traffic will account for just 8% of all Internet traffic.
In 2015, tablet usage alone will generate more Internet traffic than the entire mobile Internet in 2010. That's nearly triple the amount of mobile Internet traffic generated in 2009.
ideo usage made up 53% of consumer Internet traffic last year. At 47 exabytes per month by 2015, it will soon account for two-thirds of all traffic.
Long-form video, such as TV shows and movies streamed on services like Netflix or Hulu, will make up 55.4% of all video traffic in four years -- 38.7% on PCs and 16.7% streamed on Internet-connected TVs or set-top boxes.
Most Internet video will be either professional content, live streams or amateur videos on YouTube. But don't forget about video conferencing, Web cams and even nanny cams, which will account for a combined 11% of all Internet video traffic.
The majority of Internet traffic has always come from North America. But by 2015, Cisco believes Asia will generate 8% more traffic than North America and become the largest driver of Internet traffic in the world.
Other areas of the world are quickly growing in Internet usage as well. The Middle East and Affrica are growing the fastest, with an expected 8-fold expansion over the next four years, followed by Latin America at 7-fold.
In all, there will be 15 billion connected devices in 2015, or enough for two connections per person. Of course, those figures are skewed by people in developed countries who own several connected devices, but 42% of the world's population will have some connection to the Internet in four years, Cisco predicts.
As video and mobile data traffic soars, voice usage will continue to grow just incrementally. That's why wireless companies are trying to get customers onto expensive data plans, and they're slashing prices for unlimited voice minutes packages.
The Internet has been measured in exabytes per month (1 quintillion bytes) since 2004. In 2015, Internet traffic will approach a zettabyte (1 sextillion bytes) per month for the first time, and it will likely cross that milestone in 2016.
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
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