▁Systems , ▁an ▁American ▁mult in ational ▁technology ▁con gl omer ate , ▁the ▁global ▁IP ▁traffic ▁achieved ▁an ▁estimated ▁ 1 . 2 ▁z ett aby tes ▁( or ▁an ▁average ▁of ▁ 9 6 ▁ex aby tes ▁( EB ) ▁per ▁month ) ▁in ▁ 2 0 1 6 . ▁Global ▁IP ▁traffic ▁refers ▁to ▁all ▁digital ▁data ▁that ▁passes ▁over ▁an ▁IP ▁network ▁which ▁includes , ▁but ▁is ▁not ▁limited ▁to , ▁the ▁public ▁Internet . ▁The ▁largest ▁contrib uting ▁factor ▁to ▁the ▁growth ▁of ▁IP ▁traffic ▁comes ▁from ▁video ▁traffic ▁( including ▁online ▁streaming ▁services ▁like ▁Net fli x ▁and ▁YouTube ). ▁ ▁The ▁Z ett aby te ▁Era ▁can ▁also ▁be ▁understood ▁as ▁an ▁age ▁of ▁growth ▁of ▁all ▁forms ▁of ▁digital ▁data ▁that ▁exist ▁in ▁the ▁world ▁which ▁includes ▁the ▁public ▁Internet , ▁but ▁also ▁all ▁other ▁forms ▁of ▁digital ▁data ▁such ▁as ▁stored ▁data ▁from ▁security ▁cam eras ▁or ▁voice ▁data ▁from ▁cell - phone ▁calls . ▁T aking ▁into ▁account ▁this ▁second ▁definition ▁of ▁the ▁Z ett aby te ▁Era , ▁it ▁was ▁estimated ▁that ▁in ▁ 2 0 1 2 ▁up wards ▁of ▁ 1 ▁z ett aby te ▁of ▁data ▁existed ▁in ▁the ▁world ▁and ▁that ▁by ▁ 2 0 2 0 ▁there ▁would ▁be ▁more ▁than ▁ 4 0 ▁z ett aby tes ▁of ▁data ▁in ▁the ▁world ▁at ▁large . ▁ ▁The ▁Z ett aby te ▁Era ▁transl ates ▁to ▁difficulties ▁for ▁data ▁cent ers ▁to ▁keep ▁up ▁with ▁the ▁explos