A new study says massive use could overload the Internet and lead to brownouts by 2010 unless backbone service providers an estimated $137 billion in new infrastructure. The predicted ‘Exaflood’ is being attributed to video and other heavy Web content according to the70-page report by Nemertes Research Group. From the study: “Our findings indicate that although core fiber and switching/routing resources will scale nicely to support virtually any conceivable user demand, Internet access infrastructure, specifically in North America, will likely cease to be adequate for supporting demand within the next three to five years.” Service providers already plan on spending about $72 billion on upgrades, but this report claims it’s not enough. Is this just more ‘Y2K-like’ paranoia, or is this a genuine problem? Via Macworld;Press release

A new study says massive use could overload the Internet and lead to brownouts by 2010 unless backbone service providers an estimated $137 billion in new infrastructure. The predicted ‘Exaflood’ is being attributed to video and other heavy Web content according to the70-page report by Nemertes Research Group. From the study: “Our findings indicate that although core fiber and switching/routing resources will scale nicely to support virtually any conceivable user demand, Internet access infrastructure, specifically in North America, will likely cease to be adequate for supporting demand within the next three to five years.” Service providers already plan on spending about $72 billion on upgrades, but this report claims it’s not enough. Is this just more ‘Y2K-like’ paranoia, or is this a genuine problem? Via Macworld;Press release