April 6, 2026 by Hayley Levine

Over the past 26 years, the internet has grown and woven itself into the fabric of daily life — from casual web browsing and content creation to extensive coding sessions. Cogent's CEO, Dave Schaeffer, has had a front-row seat to all of it.

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"The internet has continued to grow, and its growth has been driven by three factors: the number of people connected, the number of minutes a day they're connected, and the bit intensity of those minutes," Schaeffer said.

When the internet was first built, it was used to exchange emails, which quickly evolved into file transfers and audio distribution. Schaeffer explains that as each application matures, the internet gets a new wave of growth.

After file sharing, the next wave came from user-generated video and social networking. Professionally produced content followed and streaming services replaced what had been distributed via broadcast, cable, and satellite.

"Pre-pandemic, approximately 18% of all video consumed was by streaming. Now we are seeing over 54% of all video is from streaming, and we would expect that number to continue to grow," Schaeffer said.

The current wave is being driven by the widespread adoption of AI — not just large language models like ChatGPT and Claude, but their integration into existing applications and the development of new ones entirely. This shift has also changed the directionality of internet traffic, moving it more toward a symmetrical model rather than a distribution one.

"With the deployment of AI agents, the internet is once again going to become more symmetrical, with users generating traffic and not just drawing traffic from centralized sources," Schaeffer explained.

As each wave reshaped the internet, the data center ecosystem followed suit. Companies like Equinix and Iron Mountain have adjusted their strategies to meet shifting demand. In addition, a new tier of data center has emerged — facilities built and operated by companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Google specifically to house their AI models, data, and traffic.

Cogent has designed its data center footprint to provide secure facilities for data storage and business applications.

"Our data center footprint is sold generally in conjunction with bandwidth, and is available to all of our customers. We don't try to dictate how a customer will use them," Schaeffer said. "We make it available, and then customers pick and choose which parts of their business are best served by our footprint."

While colocation has traditionally been the go-to option for housing servers, cloud computing has grown significantly. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud have all poured more investment into their infrastructure to meet that demand. But the cloud isn't always the right fit.

"There are two reasons why proprietary colocation makes sense — the first is security and control, which is important; and at large volumes, it makes sense to bring that set of functions in-house, building your own cloud infrastructure and owning your own physical servers," Schaeffer said.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, office policies have shifted dramatically. In 2026, more companies are requiring employees back in the office — anywhere from two to five days a week. Cogent has built a footprint to meet that demand, delivering high-quality internet access directly to office suites across more than 1,800 Cogent-Lit buildings and more than 6 million other office buildings across in North America and beyond.

"We have built a fiber optic network that resembles a corporate landscape, but is extended on a global footprint," Schaeffer explained. "It's given us the ability to capture efficiencies and technology better than other networks, and it has allowed Cogent to grow its corporate end-user business."

That architecture also gives customers flexibility and efficiency in a hybrid world. Wherever people work, Schaeffer believes the quality of their connectivity needs to keep pace.

Nobody knows what the next wave will look like. The AI wave may sustain itself for a long time. The next big thing might come from a familiar name — Amazon, Google, Meta — or it might come from someone nobody has heard of yet.

"The success of the internet has come from the fact that it has allowed over 6 billion people to put their own ideas and own issues in front of everyone else," Schaeffer said. "That shared infrastructure has really transformed the world, but it's also unleashed waves of creativity."

Whatever comes next, Schaeffer is confident Cogent will have a role in it — built on its core model of being the "lowest cost, highest quality connectivity company" and on the conviction that internet connectivity is no longer optional for businesses. It's essential.

About the Author:
Hayley Levine is a Communications Specialist that works with technically-versed and business-minded individuals who support our global customer base. She highlights how Cogent’s set of products and services can address customer challenges from her involvement in customer conversations.