Networks Strain to Keep Pace with Data Explosion

In one minute, Facebook logs 6 million pages views, Google handles 2 million-plus search queries, Twitter adds more than 320 accounts and the data explosion threatens to overwhelm network infrastructure.

Network infrastructure as a topic lacks the sex appeal of slick mobile devices, cool social and location apps, streaming music or viral videos. Yet without the fast-flow of data a robust network infrastructure supports, they all come to a grinding halt. We’ve looked before at the strain our collective appetite for mobile devices and video places on networks. This infographic demonstrates the enormity of the need for network capacity beyond just mobile and video uses and forecasts a future that assures that network providers will be scrambling to keep pace.

Right now, almost 640 Terabytes of data move across global IP networks in a single minute. Smartphone and social networking application usage comprise much of that data tidal wave.
In one minute…

• 204 million emails are sent
• 20 million photos are viewed on Flickr
• 6 million views of Facebook occur
• 2 million-plus search queries are initiated on Google
• 1.3 million videos are viewed on YouTube
• 277,000 people login to Facebook
• 100,000 Tweets are sent
• $83,000 in sales are racked up at Amazon
• 61,141 hours of music are streamed from Pandora
• 47,000 apps are downloaded
• 3,000 photos are uploaded to Flickr
• 1,300 people start using a mobile device
• 320-plus Twitter accounts are added
• 135 botnet infections occur
• 100-plus LinkedIn accounts are added
• 30 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube
• 20 people are victims of identity theft
• 6 new Wikipedia articles are published

Today’s data volume challenges network providers to keep pace with an insatiable hunger for bandwidth, yet the future promises to make the demand more acute. The number of networked devices now approximately equals the global population, but by 2015 it’s projected to double. Just 3 years from now, it will take 5 years to view all the video crossing IP networks in one second.