"A typewritten page is about 2,000 bytes, or two kilobytes, and a small, low-resolution image is about 100,000 bytes, or 100 kilobytes. There are about 5 million bytes, or five megabytes, in the complete works of Shakespeare, and a pickup truck full of books might amount to one billion bytes, or a gigabyte. One billion of those book-filled pickup trucks, or one billion gigabytes, is an Exabyte," the IIA explains.

In 2007, it estimates Internet users created about 161 exabytes of digital information."But by 2010, we might produce as much as 988 exabytes of data," it notes. The result, to use a term coined by Bret Swanson of Seattle's Discovery Institute, will be an exaflood: a torrent of data that will exceed available bandwidth and slow down service for everyone on the Internet.

In an attempt to prevent such a scenario, the four-year-old IIA launched two new initiatives. It formed a group of Broadband Ambassadors--leading Internet executives--and to advance support of improved broadband infrastructure and developed a National Broadband Strategy, a call for a coherent set of policies and goals to accelerate universal adoption of high speed Internet.

IIA co-chair Bruce Mehlman said the US is at a critical moment in history. "To compete and win in the 21st century, we must ensure the United States capitalizes on the extraordinary economic, technological and societal opportunities presented by broadband," he said. "The benefits are undeniable and compelling."

Numerous studies conclude there are economic benefits to expanded broadband access.

• A February report by national non-profit Connected Nation Inc. said a 7% increase in broadband adoption could result in $134 billion per year in total direct economic benefit to the American economy.
• The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC, says 293,000 permanent private sector jobs are created for every 1% increase in broadband adoption.
• Broadband-based remote monitoring for all chronically ill patients could reduce hospital, outpatient and drug expenses by 30%--reducing overall health care expenses for the US by roughly 25% or about $350-billion annually, according to Robert E. Litan with Criterion Economics, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm.
• Wide adoption and use of broadband can achieve a net reduction of one billion tons of greenhouse gas within 10 years, which, if converted to energy saved, would constitute 11% of annual US oil imports, reports the American Consumer Institute, a public policy organization that promotes research, provides information and advocates policies.