The Cisco® Visual Networking Index (VNI) Usage research is part of an ongoing initiative to measure the impact of visual networking applications. This paper provides the latest Cisco VNI Usage findings and describes the data collection methodology. The data included in this report was collected during the third quarter of calendar year 2009 (Q3 CY 2009) in a cooperative effort with over 20 service providers worldwide. For a look at the possible future growth of the applications discussed in this paper, please refer to the white paper "Hyperconnectivity and the Approaching Zettabyte Era."
October 21, 2009
Highlights
The average broadband connection generates 11.4 gigabytes of Internet traffic per month, or 375 megabytes per day. This is roughly equivalent to downloading 3,000 text emails per day, 100 mp3 music files per day, or 360 text-only ebooks per day.
Globally, the average broadband connection consumes about 4.3 gigabytes of visual networking applications (video, social networking, and collaboration) traffic per month, an equivalent of approximately 20.5 short form user-generated videos (streamed).
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing is 38 percent of global broadband traffic, down from over 60 percent two years ago (based on pilot program Cisco VNI Usage data). While still growing in absolute terms, P2P is growing more slowly than visual networking and other advanced applications.
Nearly one-third of all file-sharing Internet traffic is non-P2P. Web-based file-sharing, newsgroups, and FTP account for 32 percent of all file sharing traffic.
The top 1 percent of broadband connections are responsible for more than 20 percent of total Internet traffic.
The top 10 percent of connections are responsible for over 60 percent of broadband Internet traffic, worldwide.
Peak hour Internet traffic is 17 percent higher than Internet traffic during an average hour. Peak hour file-sharing traffic is 11 percent higher than average P2P traffic. Peak hour video communications traffic is 52 percent higher than average video communications traffic.
In an average day, Internet "prime time" ranges from approximately 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM around the world. This contrasts to broadcast TV prime time, which is generally from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM across most global markets.
25% of global Internet traffic is generated during the Internet "prime time" period. A "prime time" Internet hour has 20% more traffic than a non-prime time Internet hour.
The peak Internet visual networking hour has almost 25% more traffic than average hourly Internet traffic.
Cisco VNI Usage Data in Context with Cisco VNI Forecast Projections
The methodology of the Cisco VNI Usage study is one of direct measurement, while the Cisco VNI Forecast is an estimate derived from a model of individual behavior using third party subscription growth forecasts as primary input sources. The Cisco VNI Forecast approach enables a more comprehensive categorization of content and its anticipated growth in the future, while the Cisco VNI Usage methodology offers insight into traffic patterns.
Internet traffic patterns vary dramatically based on subscriber usage. During Q3 CY 2009, the top 1% of the participating connections consumed over 20% of Internet traffic and the top 10% consumed 60% of Internet traffic.
Figure 1. Top 1% and Top 10% of Global Broadband Subscribers Create 20% and 60% of Internet Traffic Respectively
Global Internet usage is highest during the evening hours and lowest during the morning hours. The traffic pattern of visual networking applications are widely fluctuating in comparison with P2P (e.g., Bittorrent, eDonkey, gnutella, etc.) applications. P2P applications are often run in the background, producing a steady stream of traffic throughout the day. Video and communications applications have more pronounced peaks and valleys. These fluctuations cause a variance in peak-to-average ratios, which the study is tracking as a long term indicator.
When taking into account such peaks in traffic as revealed by the Cisco VNI Usage study and applied to the Cisco VNI Forecast, peak Internet traffic may grow seven-fold by 2013, compared to a five-fold increase of average Internet traffic. Cisco VNI Usage study results reveal that different applications have very different ratios of peak hour to average hour. For example, video and communications have a higher peak-to-average ratio than peer-to-peer file-sharing, and as video grows to represent a larger portion of Internet traffic, the overall peak-to-average ratio will increase accordingly.
Figure 2. Global Internet Average Daily Traffic (Q3 CY 2009)
Figure 3. Global Internet Average Daily P2P Traffic (Q3 CY 2009)
Cisco VNI Usage Data Source
Cisco collects anonymous, aggregate data about network usage from over 20 service providers worldwide participating in the Visual Networking Index Usage program. Participants in the program receive benchmarking reports comparing their traffic composition and growth to the average of the other participants.
The data is collected from a special purpose Cisco Service Control Engines installed in the network of each participant. The equipment is run in anonymous subscriber mode, and does not include any IP or MAC addresses, or any other personally identifiable information. The Cisco Service Control Engines used for this program do not include policy control modules, and therefore the equipment is not able to apply different policies to different types of traffic. The equipment is configured exclusively for passive reception.
Cisco VNI Usage Subscriber and Content Privacy
The data collected as part of the Cisco VNI Usage program is both anonymous and aggregate. Anonymous data is distinct from "anonymized" data, which is raw data in which individual IP addresses have been replaced with random identifiers. Anonymous data, on the other hand, contains no raw usage records, only aggregate statistics describing those records.
Examples of the types of information included in and excluded from the data collection effort are listed below.
Table 1. Types of Information Included and Excluded in Cisco VNI Usage Program
For More Information
Inquiries can be directed to traffic-inquiries@cisco.com.