Asia Pacific is tipped to overtake North America as the region generating the most cloud traffic by 2016, however the fastest growing region will be Middle East and Africa, Cisco forecasts.
The firm predicts Asia Pacific will generate 1.5-zettabytes of cloud traffic by 2016, up from 216-exabytes in 2011. The growth will knock North America off the top spot it held in 2011 when the region generated 261-exabytes, though Cisco’s figures show it will remain a close contender in 2016, generating 1.1-zettabytes.
Western Europe is tipped to remain in third place, with traffic growing from 156-exabytes in 2011 to 963-exabytes in 2016.
However, in terms of growth, it is emerging territories that top the list. Cisco predicts Middle East and African cloud traffic will increase at a CAGR of 79% between 2011 and 2016, followed by Latin America (66%), and Central and Eastern Europe (55%).
Cisco predicts total cloud traffic will grow at a CAGR of 44% over the forecast period, making it the fastest growing element in overall data center traffic growth. The total figure is tipped to grow from 1.8-zettabytes in 2011 to 6.6-zettabytes in 2016.
Doug Merritt, senior vice president of corporate marketing at Cisco, says the forecasts confirm the increase in overall data traffic is a global phenomenon, “driven by our growing desire to access personal and business content anywhere, on any device.”