Canadian IP traffic to expand 2.4 times by 2018: Cisco

Data transmitted over Internet protocol networks with devices in Canada will be about 2.4 times more in 2018 than what it was last year, according to a new report from Cisco Systems Inc. Highlights of Canadian figures from Cisco's latest Visual Networking Index show IP traffic in Canada will reach a total of 42.3 exabytes (about 42.3 billion gigabytes) in 2018, compared to 17.4 exabytes in 2013. That represents average annual growth of 19 per cent between now and 2018, Cisco said. IP traffic is comprised mostly of traffic over the Internet, and also includes private networks or other connections, such as IPTV. The Internet, specifically, is expected to see the transmission of 31.4 exabytes generated by users in Canada in 2018, according to Cisco, almost three times what it was in 2013 and about 47 times the total volume of Internet traffic in 2005. Mobile traffic data in Canada was forecast by Cisco to grow ninefold between 2013 and 2018, representing an average annual expansion of 54 per cent. Cisco, the U.S. technology giant, said in its main press release that about 1.6 zettabytes, or around 1.6 trillion gigabytes, will be transmitted globally on IP networks in 2018, which is about triple what it was last year and more than the sum of all IP data transmitted over global networks between 1983 and 2013. Shruti Jain, a California-based senior analyst with Cisco who deals with service providers, said data growth in the coming years presents both opportunities and challenges to Internet- and mobile-service providers. "I think anticipate this, and they know that there is increased traffic that is going to be coming onto their networks," she said in phone interview. "We feel they're prepared for it." While the increased data usage presents opportunities for monetization, she said, service providers are constantly recalibrating data pricing on a proportional basis to ensure widespread use of additional services that are becoming available. "They are in a position and able to customize the data caps so that they're not turning off their customers totally, but at the same time, they're able to monetize it," Jain said. She added that there are also opportunities for service providers to monetize the increased use of data in partnerships with companies provide certain services, as well as providing their own content for consumption. She acknowledged that some companies, in Canada and elsewhere, face hurdles in this regard due to vertical-integration regulations if they offer both media content and telecommunications services. Jain said as service providers upgrade their networks, they have to do more than just prepare for multiple times more data to be accommodated. She said they also have to make their networks more suited for the types of content that will be transmitted on a bigger scale — notably video — and for transitions between different types of network connections — for example, from a mobile connection to WiFi — to become more "seamless" for users. WiFi-connected devices were predicted by Cisco to account for 50 per cent of Canada's IP traffic by 2018, up from 39 per cent last year. Mobile will take seven per cent, it said, up from two per cent in 2013. Fixed lines will account for 43 per cent of Canadian IP traffic in 2018, down from 59 per cent last year, Cisco predicted. Video will represent 74 per cent of all IP traffic in Canada by 2018, Cisco said, up from 69 per cent last year. Cisco said in its press release that video will make up 79 per cent of all IP traffic in the world by 2018, compared to 66 per cent last year. Personal computers will account for 29 per cent of IP traffic in Canada in 2018, down from 55 per cent last year, Cisco said. It added that the share taken by portable devices including smartphones and tablets will have grown to 35 per cent from eight per cent over that time, and machine-to-machine components will see its share of Canadian IP traffic rise to five per cent from 0.4 per cent. The full Cisco report said the global share of IP traffic generated by PCs will fall to 43 per cent in 2018 from 67 per cent last year as non-PC devices take up a increasingly larger share of the world's IP data. — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and editing by Peter Henderson at phenderson@thewirereport.ca

Canadian IP traffic to expand 2.4 times by 2018: Cisco

Broadcast | June 10, 2014

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