The Inaugural ceremonies for President Barack Obama were greeted with cheers in Washington, strong interest across the nation — and a significant increase in Internet traffic. As the 44th President of the United States took his oath Tuesday shortly after noon, Ann Arbor-based Merit Network Inc.’s backbone network experienced greater than a 40 percent increase in traffic to the external Internet as users across Michigan watched the proceedings via live Web streams. Traffic estimates during the Inauguration range from 15-18 gigabits per second of Internet traffic on Merit’s backbone network, which is significantly greater than the average of seven to 10 gigabits during the same time period on an ordinary Tuesday.