Verizon Communications today announced that it plans to expand the availability of its super-fast Internet service, further pressuring the cable providers in the speed game. The New York telecommunications company next week will begin offering FiOS Internet service, which boasts download speeds of 50 megabits per second, to 10 million homes and small businesses throughout its 16-state territory, widening it beyond its availability in six states. While still just a fraction of Verizon's total customer base, the expansion represents a leap ahead of the geographic reach of cable providers' super-fast Internet service. At 50 Mbps, a person could download a high-definition movie in 13 minutes, or a 60-minute Web video in eight seconds.Wow, I wish i had service simillar to that up here in Czech  Republic...

In other news, Cisco's Visual Networking Index (PDF) predicts that visual networking will account for 90 per cent of the traffic coursing through the world's IP networks by 2012. The upward trend is not only driven by consumer demand for YouTube clips and IPTV, according to the report, as business use of video conferencing will grow at 35 per cent CAGR over the same period.