This week saw the release of the 10th annual Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Australian results, which indicate Australia is set to continue experiencing exponential growth in Internet usage and will reach a stage of hyperconnectivity faster than anticipated.
The research points to huge increases in IP traffic, mobile usage, number of connected devices, consumption of data per capita and video consumption. Cisco is urging businesses to take the necessary steps to ensure they are not just ready for this hyperconnected future, but prepared now for the opportunity it presents.
The VNI predicts that IP traffic in Australia will increase three-fold by 2019 with a compound annual growth rate of 22 per cent.
IP traffic will reach a massive 1.4 Exabytes (1018) per month in 2019, up from 499 Petabytes (1015) per month in 2014. This equates to 45 Petabytes per day in 2019 (up from 16 Petabytes per day in 2014) or 154 times the amount of traffic in 2005.
Although there will be an increase to the number of people online in Australia by 2019, the growth in Internet use comes more from the number of devices that will be connected and the mobility of those devices. People will be online for more hours of the day and there will be more things connected.
The Cisco VNI research also highlights that in Australia there will be 219.6 million networked devices by 2019, up from 115.7 million in 2014. Wi-Fi and mobile connected devices will generate 72 per cent of IP traffic by 2019.
Wi-Fi will become the dominant form of mobile connectivity and cross the half-way mark (60 per cent) of total traffic. Cellular will comprise 12 per cent. In 2019, mobile device traffic will be equivalent to 19 times the entire volume of the Australian Internet in 2005.
Business IP traffic is set to double in size by 2019, a compound annual growth of 14 per cent. Business mobile data traffic will grow five-fold, and business Internet video will grow 3.4-fold from 2014 to 2019.