The Internet (STILL) Running Out Of Capacity?
While scientists predict that the our happy little planet will crash into the sun millions and millions of years in the future, the Internet might suffer a death much closer to today. For example: 2 years from now according to a new study:
“The study is the first to “apply Moore’s Law (or something very like it) to the pace of application innovation on the ‘Net,” the study says. “Our findings indicate that although core fiber and switching/routing resources will scale nicely to support virtually any conceivable user demand, Internet access infrastructure, specifically in North America, will likely cease to be adequate for supporting demand within the next three to five years.”
The study confirms long-time concerns of the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA), an advocacy group focused on upgrading U.S. broadband networks, said Bruce Mehlman, co-chairman of the group. The group, with members including AT&T, Level 3 Communications, Corning, Americans for Tax Reform and the American Council of the Blind, has been warning people of the coming “exaflood” of video and other Web content that could clog its pipes.”
This isn't the first time we've reported something like this, and we're starting to take the issue a bit more seriously.
We have all heard startling figures about how much bandwidth (and thus routing) is wasted on spam, perhaps if we could save the Internet if only we could manage to get rid of spam altogether and perhaps do away with those l33t d00dz who cannot spell words without numbers.
The sad truth is that neither of those things alone will save the Ineternet as we know it. According to the survey the answer is to spend $137 billion in upgrading capacity all over the world. Bill Gates could probably come quite close to bailing Northern America out, the cost of which is estimated between $42 and $55 billion dollars.
“The study is the first to “apply Moore’s Law (or something very like it) to the pace of application innovation on the ‘Net,” the study says. “Our findings indicate that although core fiber and switching/routing resources will scale nicely to support virtually any conceivable user demand, Internet access infrastructure, specifically in North America, will likely cease to be adequate for supporting demand within the next three to five years.”
The study confirms long-time concerns of the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA), an advocacy group focused on upgrading U.S. broadband networks, said Bruce Mehlman, co-chairman of the group. The group, with members including AT&T, Level 3 Communications, Corning, Americans for Tax Reform and the American Council of the Blind, has been warning people of the coming “exaflood” of video and other Web content that could clog its pipes.”
This isn't the first time we've reported something like this, and we're starting to take the issue a bit more seriously.
We have all heard startling figures about how much bandwidth (and thus routing) is wasted on spam, perhaps if we could save the Internet if only we could manage to get rid of spam altogether and perhaps do away with those l33t d00dz who cannot spell words without numbers.
The sad truth is that neither of those things alone will save the Ineternet as we know it. According to the survey the answer is to spend $137 billion in upgrading capacity all over the world. Bill Gates could probably come quite close to bailing Northern America out, the cost of which is estimated between $42 and $55 billion dollars.
