Cisco predicts Global Vidual IP Traffic to grow 3 fold by 2018,reaching 1.6 Zettabytes

Interesting prediction from Cisco on Visual IP data traffic in year 2018 with lots of comparisons to current data traffic.  It's a lot and is of course expected with HD TV, M2M, et al.

The "Internet of things visual" arrives in full force...

Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2013–2018
6-10-14

Check out the complete Executive Summary and an excerpt below.

The Cisco® Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update is part of the comprehensive Cisco VNI Forecast, an ongoing initiative to track and forecast the impact of visual networking applications on global networks. This paper presents some of Cisco’s major global mobile data traffic projections and growth trends.

Executive Summary Excerpt
February 5, 2014

The Mobile Network in 2013

Global mobile data traffic grew 81 percent in 2013. Global mobile data traffic reached 1.5 exabytes per month atthe end of 2013, up from 820 petabytes per month at the end of 2012.

Last year’s mobile data traffic was nearly 18 times the size of the entire global Internet in 2000. One exabyte of traffic traversed the global Internet in 2000, and in 2013 mobile networks carried nearly 18 exabytes of traffic.

Mobile video traffic exceeded 50 percent for the first time in 2012. Mobile video traffic was 53 percent of traffic by the end of 2013.

Over half a billion (526 million) mobile devices and connections were added in 2013. Global mobile devices and connections in 2013 grew to 7 billion, up from 6.5 billion in 2012. Smartphones accounted for 77 percent of that growth, with 406 million net additions in 2013.

Globally, smart devices represented 21 percent of the total mobile devices and connections in 2013, they accounted for 88 percent of the mobile data traffic. In 2013, on an average, a smart device generated 29times more traffic than a non-smart device.

Mobile network connection speeds more than doubled in 2013. Globally, the average mobile network downstream speed in2013 was 1,387 kilobits per second (Kbps), up from 526 Kbps in 2012.

In 2013, a fourth-generation (4G) connection generated 14.5 times more traffic on average than a non‑4Gconnection. Although 4G connections represent only 2.9 percent of mobile connections today, they already account for 30 percent of mobile data traffic.