Last week, Sandvine provided some facts and figures on the impact the closing of popular storage and back-up service Megaupload had on networks across the globe.

With the media and legal spotlight being shined on this traffic category in recent days, a number of competing sites have either decided to shut themselves down, or dramatically alter the way files are uploaded or downloaded from their servers.

One such service to make such a drastic change was FileSonic, who has halted any new uploads, and is only allowing users to download their personal files.

The graph above compares several of the leading storage and back-up services in North America and how their traffic fared both before and after Megaupload was shut down. 

What is interesting is that before FileSonic stopped allowing downloads at approximately 18:00h (UTC-5) on January 22^nd, it was the clear front-runner application, generating significantly more traffic on this network than any of its competitors (prior to the Megaupload shutdown, the two appeared roughly equal).

We will be keeping a keen eye on further changes to these storage and back-up services, and will be sure to provide an update if anything significant develops.  For more information on Sandvine’s Internet traffic trends, visit our Global Internet Phenomena Report.