Archive for August 2015

By Samantha Bookman 8-26-2015

Online video streaming devices are present in 21 percent of U.S. homes, a 13 percent increase over the past year, new research from The Diffusion Group has found. Further, a Parks Associates study revealed that four brands make up 86 percent of all streaming devices sold: Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Roku.

“Roku continues to lead streaming media device sales in the U.S. with 34 percent of units sold in 2014. Google is second with 23 percent, and new entrant Amazon overtook Apple for third place,” said Barbara Kraus, director of research at Parks.

Additionally, Roku is tops when it comes to usage, at 37 percent. Google’s Chromecast came in a distant second in usage at 19 percent.

Also of interest is the age demographic when it comes to purchasing and using streaming devices. Adults aged 25 to 44 are more likely to own a streaming device, TDG found; it saw 29 percent penetration among this group. Late millennials, however, in the 18-24 age group prefer to stream via game consoles rather than newer streaming devices when in the home.

Parks’ research also came in line with TDG’s findings, calculating that streaming devices are present in 20 percent of U.S. households. About 2 percent of those device owners also have a streaming stick.

“20 million US households now use an Internet set-top box to access streaming TV services,” notes Michael Greeson, founder and director of research at TDG. “As Apple prepares to launch its new Internet set-top box, it does so knowing demand for such platforms have significant headroom, and will be driven by not only greenfield purchases, but multi-unit and replacement sales, as well.”

A joint group of researchers from the Netherlands and the US have smashed the world speed record for a fiber network, pushing 255 terabits per second down a single strand of glass fiber. This is equivalent to around 32 terabytes per second — enough to transfer a 1GB movie in 31.25 microseconds (0.03 milliseconds), or alternatively, the entire contents of your 1TB hard drive in about 31 milliseconds.

To put 255Tbps into perspective, the fastest single-fiber links in commercial operation top out at 100Gbps, or 2,550 times slower. 255Tbps is mind-bogglingly quick; it’s greater, by far, than the total capacity of every cable — hundreds of glass fibers — currently spanning the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, 255 terabits per second is similar to — or maybe even more than — the total sum of all traffic flowing across the internet at peak time.

By Sebastian Anthony – Senior editor ExtremeTech