^{Democracy & Technology Blog} New IP traffic study

This is just one of a flurry of stories about a new Internet traffic study from Nemertes Research. Nemertes approaches the topic from a different angle than, say, the Cisco study, which projected growth of particular Net applications. Nemertes instead believes that many new applications and innovations are beyond our ability to predict with any degree of precision and thus uses estimates of future network capacity and utilization rates to arrive at traffic projections. The one thing we know for sure, they say, is that we will find ways to use up a certain large portion of new bandwidth, just as we find creative ways to use or even “waste” digital MIPS and storage. Nemertes’ approach is somewhat appealing on the surface, but I’m still digesting the report and will have lots more to say.
Bret Swanson