An IDC report released this year predicts that the amount of digital data we are creating will soon outpace our capacity to store it. One contributing factor: exponential growth in online video. AT&T's VP of Legal Affairs, Jim Cicconi, notes that:
...video makes up 30% of net traffic now and in two years will hit 80%. Add in the move to high definition video which is seven to 10 times more bandwidth hungry....and you get a recipe for failure.
AT&T, whose telecom infrastructure makes up part of the Internet's backbone, is worried about future growth in online video. In a 2008 report, Internet hardware maker Cisco projects the amount of IP traffic will likely grow 46% annually through 2011. However, not everyone is concerned:
Professor Andrew Odlyzko, one of the few academics who studies net traffic growth, said predictions about the collapse of the net have been made with alarming regularity. "It's an idea that crops up very frequently," he said, "but I do not think we need to be worried."
Image: greencandy8888 (Flickr)
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