Global private connectivity at the edge is expected grow by 51% CAGR, and exceed a total bandwidth capacity of more than 13,300 Tbps annually, according to the latest Global Interconnection Index (GXI) published by Equinix.
This is enough bandwidth to support every person on earth simultaneously downloading a complete season of Game of Thrones in ultra-high definition resolution in less than a single day.
The GXI market study also finds that interconnection bandwidth is an essential component to digital business and validates that to compete in the digital economy, companies must address growing data volumes and increasing data exchange velocity across a rising number of clouds and business ecosystems.
In Asia-Pacific, interconnection bandwidth is expected to grow at 56% CAGR to exceed 3,825 Tbps by 2022, contributing 29% of the global capacity. Among industries, Cloud and IT services is expected to consume the most interconnection bandwidth, reaching 914 Tbps, which is forecast to outpace growth (50% CAGR) of clouds in all other regions.
Singapore is one of the top metros in the region, and it is expected to grow at 47% CAGR from 2018 to 2022.
The GXI forecasts that in order to manage the growing volumes of data, global enterprise consumption of interconnection bandwidth will grow at a 64% CAGR (68% in Asia-Pacific), outpacing other forms of business data exchange.
The Equinix survey found that almost half of global IT decision-makers (45% in Singapore) believe interconnection is a key facilitator of digital transformation, and nearly half of all global IT decision-makers (39% in Singapore) believe interconnection can help their business to gain competitive advantage within the marketplace.
“We are excited to see the proliferation of 5G, IoT, VR and AR provide the impetus for the enormous growth of interconnection bandwidth in the region, said Jeremy Deutsch, Equinix president of Asia-Pacific.
“Being interconnected has never been so important for enterprises seeking to keep up with customer expectations which often require massive volumes of data to be processed and analysed at the edge, within a matter of seconds,” said Deutsch.