There is no question that video data is the main driver for the stupendous growth of Internet traffic, projected by Cisco Systems to increase by 56.5% in 2008.

By 2010, PC online video (defined by Cisco as “video that is downloaded or streamed for viewing on a PC screen”) will make up 29.5% of monthly consumer Internet traffic.

Further, when you add the TV online video segment (Internet delivery of video to a TV screen) and video communications (video telephone), those three forms of online video data will consume more bandwidth than peer-to-peer (P2P) data—today’s current traffic leader—at 42.8% of monthly traffic versus only 36.6% for P2P in 2010.

One reason for the upsurge of online video traffic will be increased viewing. Another reason will be improved video quality with more high-definition streams—which also amplifies the amount of data sent across the Internet.

Still, while increased traffic from video creates extra costs to develop greater bandwidth, it does not threaten to overwhelm the Internet. Recent data from TeleGeography Research shows that as of midyear 2007 and 2008, the amount of Internet bandwidth grew more than did the amount of traffic—even during peak traffic.

Source: eMarketer.com

Tags: amount of traffic, cisco, consumer internet, high definition, internet bandwidth, internet delivery, internet neutrality, internet traffic, peak traffic, streams, systems, traffic source, tv screen, video communications, video data, video quality, video segment, video telephone, video traffic