Cisco Global Cloud Index: Middle East and Africa will have the highest cloud traffic growth rate by 2016

The company also foresees that Middle East and Africa will have the highest cloud traffic growth rate at 79% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR); followed by Latin America (66% CAGR); and Central and Eastern Europe (55% CAGR).

Cisco predicts that global cloud traffic, the fastest growing component of data center traffic, will grow 6-fold - a 44% combined annual growth rate (CAGR) - from 683 exabytes of annual traffic in 2011 to 4.3 zettabytes by 2016.

The vast majority of the data center traffic is not caused by end users but by data centers and cloud-computing workloads used in activities that are virtually invisible to individuals. For the period 2011 - 2016, Cisco forecasts that roughly 76% of data center traffic will stay within the data center and will be largely generated by storage, production and development data. An additional seven percent of data center traffic will be generated between data centers primarily driven by data replication and software/system updates. The remaining 17% of data center traffic will be fueled by end users accessing clouds for web surfing, emailing and video streaming.

From a regional perspective, the Cisco Global Cloud Index predicts that through 2016, the Middle East and Africa will have the highest cloud traffic growth rate, while the Asia-Pacific region will process the most cloud workloads, followed by North America.

Key Highlights from the Study for the United Arab Emirates:
• The United Arab Emirates ranks as one of the top 10 Mobile Network Performing Countries in 2012. Mobile network performance in the United Arab Emirates:
o Download speed of 3,133kbps
o Upload speed of 1,353kbps
o Latency speed of 120ms

• Overall consumer and business fixed network cloud performance in the United Arab Emirates:
o Download speed of 8,002kbps
o Upload speed of 2,952kbps
o Latency speed of 51ms

• Consumer fixed network cloud performance in the United Arab Emirates:
o Download speed of 8,004kbps
o Upload speed of 2,953kbps
o Latency speed of 51ms

• Business fixed network cloud performance in the United Arab Emirates:
o Download speed of 10,180kbps
o Upload speed of 4,164kbps
o Latency speed of 79ms

• Overall consumer and business mobile network cloud performance in the United Arab Emirates:
o Download speed of 3,133kbps
o Upload speed of 1,353kbps
o Latency speed of 120ms

• Consumer mobile network cloud performance in the United Arab Emirates:
o Download speed of 8,004kbps
o Upload speed of 2,953kbps
o Latency speed of 51ms

Key Regional Highlights/Findings from the Study:
• From a regional perspective, the Cisco Global Cloud Index predicts that through 2016, the Middle East and Africa will have the highest cloud traffic growth rate, while the Asia-Pacific region will process the most cloud workloads, followed by North America.
• For global data center IP traffic forecast for Middle East and Africa covering network data centers worldwide operated by enterprises and service providers, Cisco forecasts that global datacenter traffic will grow nearly 11-fold over the forecast period and reach 251 exabytes annually by 2016. This represents a 60% compound annual growth rate or CAGR.
• Global cloud traffic will account for nearly two-thirds of total global data center traffic:
o In Middle East and Africa, cloud data center traffic will represent 64% of total datacenter traffic by 2016, compared to 37% in 2011. It will also grow 18.5-fold by 2016, at a CAGR of 79% from 2011 to 2016. Cloud data center traffic grew 93% in 2011, up from 4.5
o In Middle East and Africa, traditional data center traffic will represent 36% of total datacenter traffic by 2016, compared to 63% in 2011. It will reach 91 Exabytes per year (7.5 Exabytes per month) in 2016, up from 15 Exabytes per year (1.3 Exabytes per month) in 2011. This represents a 6.0-fold growth by 2016, at a CAGR of 43% from 2011 to 2016.
• Workload transitions: From 2011 - 2016, Data center workloads will grow 2.5 fold; cloud workloads will grow 5.3 fold:
• From a fixed network perspective, the average network performance characteristics for the Middle East and Africa can currently support intermediate cloud-computing applications such as high-definition video streaming and video chat applications.

Rabih Dabboussi, general manager of Cisco UAE, "As cloud traffic continues to proliferate in a new world of many clouds, the Cisco Global Cloud Index provides all cloud computing stakeholders with a very valuable barometer to make strategic, long-term planning decisions. This year's forecast confirms that strong growth in data center usage and cloud traffic are global trends, driven by our growing desire to access personal and business content anywhere, on any device. It is clear that the next-generation Internet will be an essential component to enabling much greater data center virtualization and a new world of interconnected clouds."