More Online Video Rekindles Network Capacity Debate

During the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, Internet traffic growth -often described as doubling every 100 days - was seemingly matched by a corresponding expansion of the network\´s architecture and infrastructure. The dot-com bubble burst resulted in lost business, bankruptcies, and lots of redundant and unused network resources. Long-distance transport became a low-margin commodity business and operators bided their time for the next emerging "killer app" to stimulate a new round of investment. According to technology analysis firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, that killer app - video -has arrived, and so, perhaps, will a shortage of network capacity. The Deloitte analysts base their prediction on two overriding trends: increases in Internet users and new video technologies and services. The firm predicts that more than one third of all Internet traffic in 2007 will be clandestine peer-to-peer video. Additionally, legal video - user-generated or Internet protocol television (IPTV) from carriers - is expected to increase, as is video chat