Throughout this project, there has been a lot of talk about video and multimedia in general. Not to be a harbinger of doom or anything, but there are a lot of early warning signs that focusing on video could put you squarely in the crosshairs of nervous ISPs.
In the UK, the BBC's iPlayer has come under attack for it's popularity as a video service and providers are looking at ways to charge the BBC extra for the traffic it generates (and possible charge consumers extra too).
In a University of California-San Diego study, Professor Michael Kleeman warned that a "massive" investment in bandwidth needs to be made in the US to keep up with demand.
"Unless we ensure an adequate supply of quality bandwidth at reasonable prices, many current and future business models will be stranded, which will have serious implications for economic growth and national competitiveness in the Internet sector," Kleeman writes."
The chorus of warnings just keeps growing too. Cisco has forecast "that video streaming and downloads will increase to make up to 30 percent consumer internet traffic in 2011," according to an iTnews article.
Cisco found that American video websites currently transmit more data per month than the entire amount of traffic sent over the internet in 2000.
This isn't to say that video shouldn't be considered as part of a online model, but those doing so should be very aware of the development of bandwidth usage and whether or not video could cost them more than they expect.