Internet Capacity To Be Exceeded By 2010 : A Study Claims

A study by the Nemertes Research Group is predicting that the Internet could run out of capacity by 2010 if backbone providers don’t invest in new infrastructure. It says the backbone needs an estimated $42 to $55 billion invested in capacity in the next 3-5 years to keep up with the ever growing net. The increasing demand for music and video streaming and peer to peer networks is to blame.

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. We estimate the financial investment required by access providers to bridge the gap between demand and capacity ranges from $42 billion to $55 billion, or roughly 60%-70% more than service providers currently plan to invest.

And, lets hope this doesn’t become reality and that IPv6 also will be widely used so that we don’t run out of IP addresses also.