New Zealand is in the midst of an Internet of Things (IoT) craze that will drive data traffic to double by the year 2020.
A New Zealand Reseller News article cites the results of a recent Cisco Visual Networking Index report that predicts the nation’s IP traffic will double by 2020 to reach 50 Gigabytes per capita, which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15%. The report covers traffic that includes Internet data along with managed networks like video-on-demand services.
As an illustration of the sheer volume of New Zealand Internet traffic, the data will grow to an equivalent of more than 72,000 DVDs every hour in four years.
“Digital transformation is happening quickly, and has the potential to improve the way New Zealanders live and work,” says Cisco New Zealand’s Head of Digital Transformation Glen Bearman.
The strongest trends that will drive growth in data traffic are expected to be the Internet of Things and digital transformation.
Millions more connected devices expected in New Zealand
The number of connected devices in New Zealand is expected to grow from 20 million in 2015 to 37 million by 2020, which will significantly increase the data load on the nation’s IP networks.
Among the applications that are expected to proliferate and drive traffic are such devices as digital health monitors, video surveillance and smart meters. As well, machine-to-machine connections will notably increase their presence, growing to a 70% share of the country’s total IP connections. Cisco expects to see this growth reach 7.7 devices / connections per capita.
The study also said increased immigration to New Zealand will drive IP data growth as 500,000 new citizens go online.
Bearman also cites faster broadband speeds as a potent accelerant of IP traffic growth.
“Higher speeds mean the consumption of rich media will continue to rise, with video being the dominant application across the globe,” he said.
