Bandwidth demand doubling by 2010

A study commissioned by CIP technologies has found that global broadband demand will be over 160 terabits in 2010 - double that of this year.

The figure is also more than the total demand from 1998 to 2008, and in 2018 it may be 40 to 100 times the current usage.

Video sharing sites like YouTube have contributed heavily to the extra bandwidth consumption, and heavy VoIP traffic could contribute further as the technology becomes more popular.

CIP concluded that there will need to be investment in infrastructure to allow businesses to make the most of IP telephony solutions and the sharing of large files, and a new, energy-efficient technology will have to provide it.

"The current technology will be physically too large and energy-hungry to deliver the levels of bandwidth growth demanded by users," said CIP's chief technology officer David Smith.

"A new technology is required that will help deliver the bandwidth and support the telcos' challenge to reduce costs and their carbon footprint."

One such technology may be Genesis Technical Systems' Bonded DSL Rings (BDR), which the company says is environmentally friendly.

BDR works over existing copper lines and Genesis claims it is capable of 400 megabits per second.