Creates a graph comparing disk read throughput to Internet speeds over time

disk-vs-internet.py

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
from matplotlib import rc

rc('text', usetex=True)
rc('font', family='sans-serif')
rc('font', size='16')

# source: http://download.broadband.gov/plan/fcc-omnibus-broadband-initiative-(obi)-technical-paper-broadband-performance.pdf

# years
broadband_x = [1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009]
# megabits/s
broadband_y = [0.8, 1.5, 2.4, 4.0, 7.0]

# source: http://tylermuth.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/a-little-hard-drive-history-and-the-big-data-problem/

# years
disk_x = [1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2008, 2011]
# megabytes/s -> megabits/s
disk_y = np.array([7.6, 9.5, 29, 63.6, 164, 204]) * 8.0

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(11.5, 8))
ax1 = fig.add_subplot(111)

ax1.plot(disk_x, disk_y, marker='s')
ax1.plot(broadband_x, broadband_y, marker='p')

ax1.set_yscale('log')
plt.xlabel('Year')
plt.ylabel('Megabits/s')
plt.legend(['Disk Throughput', 'Median Advertised Consumer Broadband Speed'], loc=2)
plt.subplots_adjust(left=0.08, right=0.95, top=0.95, bottom=0.1)
plt.savefig('speedgraph.pdf')