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Yearly internet usage to hit 1.3 trillion gigabytes in 2016, predicts Cisco

Yearly internet usage to hit 1.3 trillion gigabytes in 2016, predicts Cisco

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Cisco has released the latest update to its Visual Networking Index report, predicting that the amount of data we access over the internet will nearly quadruple by 2016, while the number of connected devices will leap by nearly 83 percent.

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It's no great secret that our internet use is on a dramatic upswing, but Cisco has released some updated data for its Visual Networking Index report with predictions on where we might be in four short years. The report estimates that global internet traffic will hit a monstrous 1.3 zettabytes by 2016 — that's 1.3 trillion gigabytes — almost four times as much as was moved in 2011. The largest reason for the shift is expected to be an increase in device adoption. The study reports that there are currently 10.3 billion internet connections, used in computers, phones, tablet, and other devices. That's set to explode, with the report estimating we'll be using 18.9 billion such connections by 2016 — an increase of over 83 percent. 45 percent of the world's population are expected to be internet users at that point, with video being one of the primary uses for online connectivity: the company predicts that enough video will travel around the internet in a single second to create a single movie lasting two years in length if placed end to end. Connected digital televisions, in fact, are expected to be the primary driver of usage growth for residential use, while desktop video conferencing will take the lead for business users.