In the second annual Cisco Global Cloud Index (2011-2016), Cisco forecasts that global data center traffic will grow 4-fold and reach a total of 6.6 zettabytes annually by 2016. The company also foresees that MEA will have the highest cloud traffic growth rate at 79 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), followed by South America (66 percent CAGR), and Central and Eastern Europe (55 percent CAGR).

Cisco predicts that global cloud traffic, the fastest growing component of data center traffic, will grow 6-fold – a 44 percent 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 201-2016, Cisco forecasts that roughly 76 percent of data center traffic will stay within the data center and will be largely generated by storage, production and development data.

Tarig Enaya, general manager of Cisco Saudi Arabia, said: “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.”