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Posted on: 10/06/2010

Small businesses warned over World Cup web disruption

Chris Stening, managing director of Easynet Connect, an ISP for small and medium sized businesses, has warned small businesses that their web connections could be brought to a crawl as workers use high bandwidth media streaming services to follow the World Cup via their office internet connections.

Chris advised: 'Traditionally, small businesses face a dilemma when deciding whether to allow employees to follow major sporting events during office hours. Whether it is through their PCs, phones or even pocket radios it is likely that fans will find a means of following the football regardless. This year, however, small businesses need to consider the technical issue of bandwidth provision with large numbers of fans, especially those who are part of 'generation Y' who instinctively look to the internet to follow live events, using their work internet connections to follow the tournament.'

'We'd urge businesses to act now to avoid any reduction in connectivity or productivity. Smaller companies should audit their ongoing and future bandwidth requirements and ensure that their connection can support their most critical applications as well as managing spikes in demand. For example, one person viewing full HD streaming via the BBC's iPlayer requires 1.5Mbps, so to have five people using this kind of service without impacting upon other services would require a minimum connection of at least 8Mbps without considering the bandwidth required by apps such as VoIP or email.'

'The biggest worry is for small businesses that are using consumer broadband packages, or low-end business packages whose connections are generally highly contended, sharing their line with other local businesses or households. This type of connection can leave small businesses completely powerless as their connection is slowed down by other people's demand for shared bandwidth, whether it is the office next door using streaming or the 4pm traffic spike when children return from school. Having a low contention ratio is important for helping small businesses at the best of times and especially at times of high demand. This said, high bandwidth connections such as 100Mbps fibre are more affordable and accessible to small businesses than ever before, leaving them free to make the most of the World Cup without interrupting their connectivity.

'And it isn't just the productivity of those workers who want to follow the tournament that need to be considered. Those who aren't following the football also risk having their bandwidth throttled by their football loving colleagues. As well as using live and catch up services such as the BBC's iPlayer, many workers may also connect smartphones, netbooks or even iPads to corporate Wi-Fi networks in order to follow the football, increasing the strain on bandwidth even further. The big challenge is to make sure that employees' use of high bandwidth services doesn't impinge on the internet capacity needed to keep business running as usual.

'Whilst larger businesses with managed, international networks may go unaffected, smaller businesses are likely to be the hardest hit. We also know from our recent research that over half of small businesses plan to take their most critical functions such as email, remote data access or storage online, using cloud computing, making their connectivity even more crucial. In 2008, a third of small businesses told us they had no formal policies over personal internet usage, essentially leaving their web connections open to abuse.'

Key recommendations from Chris Stening, managing director, Easynet Connect:

Early kick-off. Planning ahead will help you avoid paying the price of being caught by surprise and having productivity suffer as a result. It also means that businesses can avoid making reactionary decisions and measures once the football is underway.

Match analysis. Speak with your ISP to get a full picture of how much bandwidth your business requires on a day-to-day basis as well as during peak times. This should give you an idea of the impact of staff using web streaming services upon other services, upon which you can base your decisions. It will also give you a picture of how heavily your business relies upon bandwidth.

Team selection. It may be that your business is in need of increased capacity anyway, in which case it may be a good time to upgrade your current package, switch provider or to set up an extra line, such as an ADSL connection to carry low priority web traffic. If so, consider all of the technologies and packages available and make sure the option you choose is fully suited to your business and has the right back up options and service level agreements in place - it may be better value than you might think.

Substitutions. There are technologies which can help businesses needing to manage their bandwidth. For example, MPLS technology lets businesses prioritise bandwidth for particular types of traffic, protecting the data transfer to the applications which your business relies upon.

Rules of fair play. Web usage policies are far from a case of one policy fitting all and are completely dependent upon your staff and your business. Business should remember, however, that many people do still rely on their work as their primary means of accessing the web and the tools that it can provide. With the popularity of smartphones it is likely, however, that workers will find ways to follow the action regardless.

The off-line rule. Don't forget that you can keep up to speed with the football via traditional means without using up any bandwidth. Buying radios or even a TV for the office can be seen as a real treat and morale booster for your workers. Sensible usage will be advised but it is a sure-fire way of protecting your connection.

Extra time. Consider using flexible working as a means to allow employees to make up for time spent watching matches out of the office. This also avoids the prospect of claiming sick leave in order to watch games.

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