IT plea: Don’t hog your company’s bandwidth
The Internet has become integral to the day-to-day operations of businesses. From emails to file sharing, networks are vital for office communication. So when the Internet creeps along at a snail’s pace, it can be frustrating for everyone, especially your company’s IT department, and can cause myriad problems.
There are several reasons for an individual’s personal computer to slow down; usually it’s because of an out-of-date system or too much multitasking. But a company’s network can slow as well. One of the biggest factors in a slow network for a company is employees who hog bandwidth.
Bandwidth works a lot like our highways. Each bandwidth has a set amount of data that can go through at one time, like a highway has a set number of lanes in which vehicles can travel. The cars on the highway are like the data sent through a bandwidth from each person. Some people shoot a quick email that zips through like a Porsche, and some people download streaming videos, check out their Facebook page and listen to the radio — all at the same time —which roughly translates to two tractor-trailers traveling side by side and blocking all other traffic during rush hour.
A study by Network Box reported that 7.9 percent of all business Internet traffic went to Facebook in 2010. According to local Internet provider Socket, slow Internet speeds are usually the result of a small number of employees hogging bandwidth.
“A lot of times it can be employees who don’t realize they are doing it,” said Stephanie Rosskopf, Socket marketing manager. “It’s good to set strong policies on Internet usage.”
With companies moving toward “cloud” computing — virtual servers available on the Internet — larger, faster bandwidth is increasingly necessary for companies, said Caleb Brown, general manager for JS Computek. He suggests using network managing tools to help maintain a quick and easy bandwidth.
“A lot of times we’ll get calls from people thinking that their network has slowed down because of the weather,” Brown said. “What is usually happening is that everyone is listening to the weather broadcast online, clogging up the bandwidth.” V
Three ways to manage your bandwidth
• A network management company can set up rules to block specific sites from being accessed.
• Install an appliance that can filter out such website categories as spam or social networking sites.
• Increase the number of Internet connections.
There are several reasons for an individual’s personal computer to slow down; usually it’s because of an out-of-date system or too much multitasking. But a company’s network can slow as well. One of the biggest factors in a slow network for a company is employees who hog bandwidth.
Bandwidth works a lot like our highways. Each bandwidth has a set amount of data that can go through at one time, like a highway has a set number of lanes in which vehicles can travel. The cars on the highway are like the data sent through a bandwidth from each person. Some people shoot a quick email that zips through like a Porsche, and some people download streaming videos, check out their Facebook page and listen to the radio — all at the same time —which roughly translates to two tractor-trailers traveling side by side and blocking all other traffic during rush hour.
A study by Network Box reported that 7.9 percent of all business Internet traffic went to Facebook in 2010. According to local Internet provider Socket, slow Internet speeds are usually the result of a small number of employees hogging bandwidth.
“A lot of times it can be employees who don’t realize they are doing it,” said Stephanie Rosskopf, Socket marketing manager. “It’s good to set strong policies on Internet usage.”
With companies moving toward “cloud” computing — virtual servers available on the Internet — larger, faster bandwidth is increasingly necessary for companies, said Caleb Brown, general manager for JS Computek. He suggests using network managing tools to help maintain a quick and easy bandwidth.
“A lot of times we’ll get calls from people thinking that their network has slowed down because of the weather,” Brown said. “What is usually happening is that everyone is listening to the weather broadcast online, clogging up the bandwidth.” V
Three ways to manage your bandwidth
• A network management company can set up rules to block specific sites from being accessed.
• Install an appliance that can filter out such website categories as spam or social networking sites.
• Increase the number of Internet connections.