The Middle East and Africa have emerged out as two of the fastest growing regions for IP Network Traffic with a compound annual growth rate of 51 per cent, according to a study conducted by Cisco, the market leading ICT provider.

Announcing the results of its Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast and Methodology 2008-2013, Cisco said the economic downturn has only slightly tempered traffic growth, with global IP traffic expected to increase fivefold from 2008 to 2013.

The Cisco VNI Forecast was developed to estimate global Internet Protocol (IP) traffic growth, with projections being based on the organisation’s assessment and modelling of independent analysts’ forecasts.

The VNI findings also revealed that video would be the major IP traffic growth driver, with the sum of all forms of video exceeding 90 per cent of global consumer IP traffic by 2013.

Video communications traffic, which includes video-over instant messaging and video calls, will increase ten-fold from 2008 to 2013.

The high volume of video traffic will lead to the proliferation of all types of screens, along with other consumer devices, which will have an exponential effect on demand, the report said.

The increased traffic will lead to the number of networked devices with screens multiplying, something that, in turn, will lead to even more video consumption, it added.

Larger screen sizes will accelerate the demand for higher-resolution video, thereby increasing the IP traffic required for each stream.

By 2013, the surface area of the world’s digital screens will be nearly 11 billion sq ft or the equivalent of 2 billion large-screen TVs. If laid end-to-end, these screens would circle the globe more than 48 times.

Mobile video is the fastest-growing application category measured within the Cisco VNI and its use will roughly double mobile traffic each year from 2008 to 2013.

Almost 64 per cent of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video in 2013 and by this date, passive networking, such as DVR recording while watching other network programming, online storage backups, or ambient video from devices such as security or nanny-cams, will add another six ‘network hours’ to each day, said Sam Alkharrat, managing director of Cisco Gulf and Pakistan.

At present, there are 36 hours in a ‘network day’ and by 2013, this will have increased to 48 hours, he pointed out.

Accorrding to him, the Cisco VNI findings highlights the increasing reliance on global network video streaming.

“As the worldwide leader in networking technology for the Internet, Cisco has a unique ability to gather and interpret IP network data,” he commented.

“Our annual VNI forecast demonstrates how visual networking is fundamentally changing the way we communicate, collaborate, view and share all types of content. It also provides another example of the extent that we partner with our customers to help them prepare and take full advantage of the dynamic network landscape in the years ahead,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service