Internet video growth shows need for increasing wired networks

You think people watch a lot Internet-based of video now? Then wait till 2020 - or maybe you shouldn't - because according to Bell Labs, by then Americans will be watching seven hours of video a day which will stress IP networks to the limit. And, spur growth not only of wireless but also fiber and other wired networks. That's because wired networks will store the video content in multiple caches around the country - making for more rapid access over wired and wireless devices.

Bell Labs predicted, "By 2020 people in the US will be consuming 7 hours of video per day - mostly video on demand - which will place disproportionate stress on the IP edge of broadband networks."

In a study released in December, 2012, Alcatel-Lucent, parent of Bell Labs, found:

• The proportion of time spent watching managed video-on-demand services will grow from 33 to 77 percent, at the expense of traditional broadcast TV services, whose relative share will drop from 66 to 10 percent.
• Internet-based video consumption each year will grow twelvefold.
• Managed video-on-demand consumption is expected grow at 28 percent annual rate.

According to one engineering blog, "The projections also suggest a twelve times increase in internet video content as cloud services, news sites and social networking applications become more video based, and continuously accessible anywhere, anytime on tablets."

Most of this growth is expected to come from the increased use of hand-held devices - tablets, smartphones and other devices, as well as video streamed to traditional televisions. But whether portable or not, devices will receive content stored in servers connected to wired networks.

Marcus Weldon, chief technology officer of Alcatel-Lucent, said this growth would benefit IP companies "but only if they are prepared to take advantage of it. Left unmanaged, the rapid growth in video traffic can turn into a deluge and spell disaster."

Bell Labs Video Traffic Study (Alcatel-Lucent, Dec. 13, 2012)

The tablet generation is pushing networks to the edge (EE Times, Jan. 6, 2013)