Wireless virtual reality (VR) headsets are becoming more and more popular by the day. Data consumption is forecast to explode over the next four years, which is expected to put a serious strain on both wireless and wired networks. This interesting information came to us from CED magazine in their article, “VR Data Consumption to Grow by 650 Percent by 2021, Straining Networks.”
Analysts predict data consumption from wireless VR headsets will grow from almost 2,800 petabytes (PB) in 2017 to more than 21,000 PB in 2021. This represents an increase of 650 percent and that amount of data is equivalent to over 3 billion hours of 4K video streaming.
This seems astronomical and unlikely, but I don’t doubt the data or predictions. Having experienced a VR setting at a friend’s house, I find it is easy to see how popular this will continue to be, especially as technology advances and prices drop.
As VR technology and artificial intelligence continue to change how we consume and access data, the advancements in products for consumers will keep pace.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in taxonomies, metadata, and semantic enrichment to make your content findable.
