Not VoIP but video emerges as growth driver of internet traffic

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Voice over IP barely registers on worldwide internet traffic

December 15, 2005

Streaming video and audio will likely become the largest sources of internet traffic, as the data rich multimedia applications become increasingly popular across Europe, according to new research.

Streaming video and audio currently represent 14 percent of the internet traffic mix, according to the poll by the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) among its members and some related peering exchanges in Europe. And experts believe that it will eventually become one of the biggest drains on internet capacity.

The survey shows that, despite the general perception of VoIP being a rapidly growing Internet application, it still only accounts for up to 3 percent of traffic on average as telephony sessions do not require much capacity.

Traffic originating from web browsers and e-mail continues to dominate the overall mix, representing the majority (just over 50 per cent) of the total Internet traffic.

The expanding variety of Internet applications is demanding massive Internet capacity, and experts believe the volume is likely to grow even more . The biggest increase in traffic generation is expected to come from video and audio (almost 80% of respondents recognize these applications as big drivers), P2P (40%) and web browsers and e-mail (52%). Only 15 per cent of the surveyed AMS-IX members expect traffic from VoIP to grow the quickest.

Job Witteman, CEO at AMS-IX comments: “The outcome of the survey didn’t really surprise us, as in Amsterdam we expect significant growth from multimedia and new advanced applications for news for instance. However, our Exchange definitely recognizes VoIP as an important point of attention, as the increased adoption of the technology starts to evoke the demand for specific voice peering and additional directory services. In order to make this happen, a neutral environment would be needed therefore we stimulate the development of such initiatives at AMS-IX.”

AMS-IX surveyed its members about their experiences and expectations towards the influence that these different applications have on the composition and growth of the Internet traffic. The list of organisations included Internet Service Providers (ISPs), carriers, content providers, hosting providers and a number of Internet exchanges in Europe.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About AMS-IX

AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange) is a neutral and independent not-for-profit Internet exchange providing services since the early 1990's. AMS-IX is one of the largest Internet hubs worldwide, where over 200 Internet related parties come together to exchange Internet traffic amongst them. The AMS-IX platform provides high quality, non-blocking professional peering services for all types of IP traffic whether data or VoIP. AMS-IX hosts the first mobile peering points worldwide, the Global GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX) and the Mobile Data Exchange (MDX), as well as solutions for broadcasting traffic with the multicast peering service.

For further press information, please contact Marieke van Zuien at LEWIS, Global Public Relations

Tel: 0031 (0)40 235 46 00
E-mail: mariekev@lewispr.com
http://www.lewispr.com

For further information about AMS-IX please contact Cara Mascini:

Tel: 0031 (0)20 305 89 95
E-mail: cara.mascini@ams-ix.net
http://www.ams-ix.net