Bring On The Exaflood!

BRING ON THE EXAFLOOD
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Bruce Mehlman and Larry Irving]
[Commentary] Driven by a critical mass of fast connections and the arrival of a "killer application" -- video -- broadband has arrived. Broadband, or high-speed Internet connectivity, is the transformative technology of our generation. Access to and effective use of broadband affects the ability of individuals, industries and nations to grow, compete and succeed. If we can match the explosion in digital content with the smarter and more robust networks needed to get information to homes, businesses and schools, America stands a good chance of regaining its global leadership in broadband access, innovation and adoption. Yet as new content proliferates, today's high-speed connection could be tomorrow's traffic jam. The strain on broadband capabilities and the looming data deluge is often called the Internet exaflood. "Exaflood" stems from the term exabyte, or 1.074 billion gigabytes. Two exabytes equal the total volume of information generated in 1999. The Internet currently handles one exabyte of data every hour. This mushrooming amalgamation of data is pushing the Internet to its limits. Preparing for the exaflood is critical to the nation's success. The Internet infrastructure must be robust enough to handle all of the new data; this is often a challenge because the Internet is really thousands of privately owned, individual networks stitched together. It requires constant investment so that it will continue to grow and run smoothly. All sides agree that we need ongoing investment in content, massive upgrades of infrastructure and relentless innovation to handle the phenomenal growth in data traffic. We need advancements in how we build and operate networks, including new file compression technologies, upgraded traffic management software, better spam and virus filters, and new delivery platforms. And we need substantial investments in short-haul bandwidth through fiber to homes, broadband over power lines, satellites and fourth-generation wireless networks. The formula for encouraging such extraordinary investments is clear: minimize tax and regulatory constraints and maximize competition.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/23/AR2007052301418.html
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