UK internet traffic has reached a landmark peak figure of six gigabits per second, according to figures published by the country's main internet exchange.
The London Internet Exchange (Linx), which records internet traffic data on a continuing basis, handles more than 90% of the UK internet's traffic flow. Its figure of 6 Gb/s is equivalent to 360,000 emails being sent every second.
The figure represents an increase of 20% on the peak traffic flow for January 2001, and is double that for June 2000.
"This entirely predicted rise has been attributed to both the steady growth in the number of internet users and each individual user's increasing demand for internet content," a spokesman said.
Chris Fletcher, head of technical development for the exchange, said there was no substantial increase in the rate of traffic growth. "We are not seeing a huge increase in growth," he said. "But it is a huge amount of traffic."
The rise in use of unmetered internet access has undoubtedly had an effect on the figures. But Mr Fletcher added there would have to be substantial growth in the take-up of ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) broadband technology before its effect would be reflected in UK traffic figures.
Traffic levels would also increase slightly over time as more ISPs signed up to the exchange, Mr Fletcher said.
At the moment, traffic peaks between about 2pm and 9pm GMT. Figures for the last 24 hours show traffic peaking at about 6.3 Gb/s at about 5pm yesterday, and sinking to a low of about 2 Gb/s at 5am today.
Linx is a non-profit partnership between ISPs, which provides a physical connection through which its members can exchange traffic. It publishes its internet traffic data on its website at http://ochre.linx.net/.
A Guardian/ICM poll in January showed that 49% of all British adults had access to the internet, either at home or at work.
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