Understanding IP traffic measurements

[mqdavis]

Just learning so please smile at my lack of knowledge - I am trying to bridge Cisco's VNI and GCI estimates that measure data traffic in units per month or per year.(eg. 20.6 ZB annually)  Other service providers (Equinix for example) measure bandwidth as a unit of data storage (e.g. 8,200 Tbps)

How would I convert Cisco's traffic measurements to a unit of capacity? Would I divide the traffic measurement by the number of data center workloads and compute instances?  (looking at Appendix A to D to the GCI report. Does a similar set of figures exist for VNI?)

I am trying to use Cisco's estimates as a proxy for growth in subsea transmission capacity.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[shjain · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your interest in Cisco's VNI and GCI forecasts.  Traffic estimates cannot be converted into capacity as traffic is only a portion of the overall capacity and can vary from service provider to service provider or different points of network and data center.  There are several analyst forms that do capacity estimation and you might want to consult with them - example for subsea transmission capacity you can perhaps ask Telegeography.

Thanks,

Shruti

Cisco VNI/ GCI team