Internet Expected To Reach Capacity By 2010 - Truth Or Dare?
“In three years’ time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire Internet today,” according to Jim Cicconi, vice-president of legislative affairs for AT&T. “The surge in online content is at the centre of the most dramatic changes affecting the Internet today.”
Driving the increasing strain on the infrastructure is video - and with video going high definition, expect the strain to increase. While his predictions do seem a bit like Greenpeace’s prediction of parts of Mumbai going underwater by 2010, it does ring a warning bell that the infrastructure needs beefing up - $130 million worth worldwide according to Cicconi.
“Eight hours of video is loaded onto YouTube every minute. Everything will become HD (High-Definition) very soon, and HD is 7 to 10 times more bandwidth-hungry than typical video today. Video will be 80 percent of all traffic by 2010, up from 30 percent today,” he said.
At a time when even current speeds start to seem frustratingly slow, would we have to make do with slower speeds going forward?