)
According to the study, international Internet
traffic does not fully make use of available bandwidth.
"Traffic on international links averages only 10 to
30 percent of the available Internet bandwidth," said Alan Mauldin,
senior research analyst with PriMetrica. "However, backbone
operators must have sufficient capacity available during the
Internet's busiest periods so that peak utilization does not reach
the levels that degrade network performance."
The study also found that the growth of
international traffic corresponds well to increases in Internet
capacity.
"New Internet capacity deployments appear to be
driven by reason, rather than optimism," said Mauldin. "Capacity
growth, however, is hardly uniform among providers. While some
providers have bulked up their networks in response to traffic
demand, others have reduced or eliminated capacity on underutilized
links."
The results of the study are based on primary data
collected from major backbone operators during early 2003.
