{"id":112451,"date":"2025-11-10T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=112451"},"modified":"2025-11-14T13:08:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:08:29","slug":"network-stats-for-q3-2025-the-magnitude-of-ai-workflows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/network-stats-for-q3-2025-the-magnitude-of-ai-workflows\/","title":{"rendered":"Network Stats for Q3 2025: The Magnitude of AI Workflows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"583\" src=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Network-Stats-Blog-Header-1440x820-1-1024x583.png\" alt=\"A textured background with the words Network Stats overlaid.\" class=\"wp-image-112453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Network-Stats-Blog-Header-1440x820-1-1024x583.png 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Network-Stats-Blog-Header-1440x820-1-300x171.png 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Network-Stats-Blog-Header-1440x820-1-768x437.png 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Network-Stats-Blog-Header-1440x820-1.png 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The way data moves is changing in the age of AI. As AI training, model tuning, and inferencing accelerate massive, unpredictable flows of data across clouds, our network telemetry here at Backblaze offers a real-world view into the AI data gravity shift: where data lives, how it moves, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/making-the-backblaze-network-ai-ready\/\">what it takes to keep it accessible and affordable<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the past couple of years, we\u2019ve shared <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/author\/brentnowak\/\">Network Stats<\/a> snapshots that shed light on how data moves across Backblaze\u2019s storage cloud. This quarter, we\u2019re taking that foundation further, and evolving this series into a full-fledged transparency report that stands alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/category\/cloud-storage\/hard-drive-stats\/\">Drive Stats<\/a> with regular quarterly reporting and stats you can analyze for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This report isn\u2019t just about traffic patterns. It\u2019s a look at how data movement is changing in the age of AI and what those shifts reveal about performance, cost, and resilience at scale.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"abstract\" style=\"line-height: 1.8; margin: 24px 12px; padding: 24px 12px 10px 12px;\">\n<h4>Tune in live for The Stats Lab webinar<\/h4>\n<p>Drive Stats was the beginning. Want to see the evolution? Check out the Backblaze Stats Lab webinar, bringing together content from all of our Stats articles. We\u2019re going to chat about all things Backblaze and beyond\u2014by the numbers.<br \/>\n<br \/>\n<!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-87066d35-39a5-43fe-a44f-494052a6e8d9\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-87066d35-39a5-43fe-a44f-494052a6e8d9\" id=\"hs-cta-87066d35-39a5-43fe-a44f-494052a6e8d9\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]--><a href=\"https:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/2832298\/87066d35-39a5-43fe-a44f-494052a6e8d9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-87066d35-39a5-43fe-a44f-494052a6e8d9\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/2832298\/87066d35-39a5-43fe-a44f-494052a6e8d9.png\"  alt=\"Save My Seat\"\/><\/a><\/span><script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> hbspt.cta.load(2832298, '87066d35-39a5-43fe-a44f-494052a6e8d9', {\"useNewLoader\":\"true\",\"region\":\"na1\"}); <\/script><\/span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><\/p> \n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In this first report, we\u2019re going to outline the fundamentals of our dataset, highlight standout examples for AI related traffic, and lay the foundation to start sharing our quarter-over-quarter metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dataset details&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Our internal tools allow us to capture network flow data, meaning transmission control protocol (TCP) conversations between parties on our network. Along with basic information such as who is talking and how many bits are being exchanged, we have the ability to record additional pieces of anonymized information like what country, what ISP, or if we\u2019ve seen a particular IP address before. And for each of these metrics, we have numbers for the average, 95th percentile, and maximum values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s talk about the three elements that make up our dataset: time, values, and metadata.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Monthly time slices<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>For every month, for every region, and for each direction (egress and ingress), we are data warehousing the following metrics. We plan on either using month-by-month numbers, or rolling up into a quarterly value for Network Stats reports going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-82\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-82\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Item<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Detail<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-striping row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Date range<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Every month<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Location scope<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Every region (eg US-West, EU-Central)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Network traffic direction<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Ingress, egress<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-82 from cache -->\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Metric values<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>For each monthly snapshot, we\u2019re recording the following details in our data warehouse. Capturing the average, 95th weighted value, and the maximum allows us enough information to profile our traffic.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>The 95th value (discarding the highest 5% bursts) gives us a good profile for daily operations and the maximum helps profile burst traffic.\u00a0<br \/><br \/>The most interesting metrics that I\u2019m excited to explore are the \u201cbits per IP\u201d values. This combination of \u201camount of traffic\u201d transferred with \u201chow many actors are involved\u201d per network is a good proxy for what I\u2019m calling the \u201cmagnitude\u201d of the network flow. We\u2019re exploring the first insight into this metric below in our chart section.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 id=\"tablepress-83-name\" class=\"tablepress-table-name tablepress-table-name-id-83\">Defining the Network Stats Quarterly Data<\/h2>\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-83\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-83\" aria-labelledby=\"tablepress-83-name\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Item<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Field(s)<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">Detail<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-striping row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Name<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">name<br \/>\nasn<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Common name and BGP ASN of the network<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Bits<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">bits_avg<br \/>\nbits_95th<br \/>\nbits_max<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Number of bits\/second<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Packets<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">packets_avg<br \/>\npackets_95th<br \/>\npackets_max<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Number of packets\/second<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Flows<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">flow_avg<br \/>\nflow_95th<br \/>\nflow_max<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Number of TCP flows<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">IPs<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">ip_unique_avg<br \/>\nip_unique_95th<br \/>\nip_unique_max<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Number of unique IP addresses<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-7\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Bits per IP<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">bits_ip_avg<br \/>\nbits_ip_95th<br \/>\nbits_ip_max<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Number of bits per IP address<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-8\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Protocol<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">v4<br \/>\nv6<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Amount of traffic using IPv4 vs IPv6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-83 from cache -->\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Additional metadata<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the first custom additions to our dataset is a category field. This helps us define the BGP ASNs (Autonomous System Number), basically the organizations common name associated with a range of IP addresses, that we talk to and group them into categories such as neocloud, hyperscaler, CDN, or general ISP.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 id=\"tablepress-84-name\" class=\"tablepress-table-name tablepress-table-name-id-84\">Additional Network Stats Metadata<\/h2>\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-84\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-84\" aria-labelledby=\"tablepress-84-name\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Item<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Field<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">Detail<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-striping row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">category<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">group<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">The class of network carrying the traffic (Cloud, PNI, traditional Internet Transit, or Internal Backblaze-Backblaze)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">category<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">type<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">The type of network receiving the traffic (Neocloud, Hosting\/Compute provider, Hyperscaler, CDN, Regional ISP, more localised ISP, etc)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-84 from cache -->\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The global picture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We started capturing this dataset in August of 2025, so we don\u2019t yet have a good amount of data to pull out quarter over quarter trends. But what we can do for now is take a look into some standout metrics for the month of August that we\u2019re interested in tracking over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First let\u2019s take a look at where all our traffic goes from a global perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;6a04f4402c66b&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6a04f4402c66b\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"787\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image2-1-1024x787.png\" alt=\"Sankey diagram of all Backblaze August 2025 ingress and egress traffic grouped by type of network\n\" class=\"wp-image-112456\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image2-1-1024x787.png 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image2-1-300x231.png 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image2-1-768x591.png 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image2-1-1536x1181.png 1536w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image2-1-1568x1206.png 1568w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image2-1.png 1610w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sankey diagram of all August ingress and egress traffic grouped by type of network<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>When we look at the data, one pattern stands out immediately: traffic associated with neocloud networks\u2014cloud providers offering compute, GPU, or other AI-related services\u2014already represents nearly a quarter of total ingress and egress across Backblaze\u2019s network. That\u2019s a meaningful signal. Historically CDN traffic has been the majority of our traffic as our B2 Object Storage has been growing. Now, we\u2019re seeing clear evidence of a new class of workload emerging, and it\u2019s AI-shaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Neocloud network behavior<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look at the magnitude of our network traffic based on the category of the traffic destination. To help quantify our data set, we interact with around 123,000 unique IP addresses every month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;6a04f4402ccbf&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6a04f4402ccbf\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image1-1.png\" alt=\"Network magnitude bits per IP address on a log scale.\" class=\"wp-image-112457\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image1-1.png 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image1-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image1-1-768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cMagnitude\u201d bits per IP address on a log scale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>CDN, hyperscaler, isp-regional, and isp-tier one traffic cluster in the same general range of bits per IP, but neoclouds have a couple outliers\u2014the two purple data points in the upper right corner of the log scale graph.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we change the scale to linear (chart below), now we can see how much of an outlier the AI related traffic is in our sample range.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;6a04f4402d2b9&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6a04f4402d2b9\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image3-1.png\" alt=\"Network magnitude bits per IP address on a linear scale\" class=\"wp-image-112458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image3-1.png 800w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image3-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image3-1-768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cMagnitude\u201d bits per IP address on a linear scale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The &#8220;magnitude&#8221; (as we\u2019re calling it) of the transfers we\u2019re servicing for AI related flows to neoclouds is an order of magnitude greater than all our traffic patterns. This means that there are only a few unique IP addresses that we\u2019re interacting with transferring large amounts of data in their flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The rise of AI-driven data movement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the past year, AI training and inference have transformed global data flows. Where traditional workloads move steadily, AI workloads move in bursts\u2014rapid retrievals of massive datasets, short high-volume transfers for model training or tuning, and sustained outbound throughput for inferencing pipelines. The magnitude metric we\u2019re introducing (bits per IP address) captures this shift.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As shown in the charts above, AI-related traffic to neoclouds isn\u2019t just heavier, it\u2019s <em>denser<\/em>. Those purple data points represent a small number of IPs exchanging a disproportionate amount of data. That concentration of flow is a hallmark of AI compute pipelines, where a few high-bandwidth endpoints (often GPU clusters) interact with object storage to repeatedly feed and retrieve training data.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Fewer talkers, bigger flows.<\/strong> AI systems operate in fewer, more intense network sessions than traditional applications.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Shorter duration, higher peaks.<\/strong> Transfer patterns spike sharply, often corresponding to dataset replication or model checkpointing cycles.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cross-cloud mobility.<\/strong> Much of this traffic routes between Backblaze and external compute platforms (classified as neoclouds) showing the rise of multi-cloud AI architectures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The macro trend: The AI data gravity shift<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This pattern reflects a broader macro trend in the cloud ecosystem: AI data gravity is pulling more storage and compute closer together. As AI models grow larger and datasets become more complex, organizations are rethinking where data \u201clives.\u201d Instead of centralizing everything in one hyperscaler like AWS or Google Cloud Platform, they\u2019re increasingly using cost-efficient, high-throughput storage clouds like Backblaze connected to specialized GPU clouds for compute (case in point: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/why-coreweaves-object-storage-launch-is-good-for-ai-and-everyone-building-it\/\">Why CoreWeave\u2019s Object Storage Launch is Good for AI\u2014and Everyone Building It<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This architectural shift explains the outlier traffic patterns we\u2019re seeing on our network. Data isn\u2019t just moving <em>more<\/em>\u2014it\u2019s moving <em>smarter<\/em>, following cost, performance, and regional availability cues.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why it matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Tracking this kind of data movement and magnitude helps us, and more importantly our customers, understand a few key things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Operational readiness for AI workloads:<\/strong> How our network scales under bursty, compute-linked demands. (For more on this check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/making-the-backblaze-network-ai-ready\/\">Making the Backblaze Network AI Ready<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cost predictability: <\/strong>Where and when ingress or egress volume spikes may occur.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Industry evolution<\/strong>: How AI is reshaping the underlying patterns of internet traffic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is just the first glimpse of that industry evolution. As our dataset matures, we\u2019ll be able to watch these AI-linked flows change quarter over quarter, offering not just transparency, but a longitudinal view of how the data backbone of the AI economy takes shape.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re planning to look at quarter over quarter number tracking for network types, IPv4 traffic vs IPv6 traffic, AI related workflows, cross-cloud connectivity trends, and more. We\u2019re also planning to release the raw data quarterly going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anything specific you want to see? Let us know in the comments or reach out to our Evangelism team.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re excited to share these insights from our network telemetry, the patterns we\u2019re seeing, and what they mean for the broader data economy. This is the stuff we stay up at night studying, and sharing it publicly means we can all better understand the forces shaping digital infrastructure and build with greater confidence and foresight.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As AI workloads reshape how data moves, Backblaze\u2019s network telemetry offers a real-world look at the data gravity shift across clouds. See all the new numbers in our quarterly Network Stats report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":112453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,434,438,1],"tags":[468,493],"class_list":["post-112451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cloud-storage","category-featured-1","category-featured-cloud-storage","category-uncategorized","tag-b2cloud","tag-networkstats","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Network Stats for Q3 2025: The Magnitude of AI Workflows<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore how AI-driven workloads are reshaping data movement in Backblaze\u2019s new transparency report on network traffic and cloud data flow.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/network-stats-for-q3-2025-the-magnitude-of-ai-workflows\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Network Stats for Q3 2025: The Magnitude of AI Workflows\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore how AI-driven workloads are reshaping data movement in Backblaze\u2019s new transparency report on network traffic and cloud data flow.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/network-stats-for-q3-2025-the-magnitude-of-ai-workflows\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage &amp; 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