Broadband Internet Crunch is Beginning to Occur

According to Nemertes Research, Internet demand remains at a rate which could outpace capacity within the next two to four years. Similar to earlier findings in 2007, evidence compiled by Nemertes over the past year continues to point to increasing strain on the Internet's infrastructure and that by 2012, this infrastructure may not be able to accommodate the exaflood, resulting in Internet brownouts. The Internet exaflood, or exponential explosion of online content, resulting largely from new applications, video and increasingly heavy Web use, is causing slower responses and time outs ­ and ultimately may trigger an "innovation slowdown," according to the study. If left unaddressed, the development of next generation applications, from software to interactive video, will likely be stifled as users find Internet infrastructure incapable of efficiently delivering quality content.