I had an interesting question asked of me today. A reporter was wondering if any of clients were experiencing slowdowns in their networks as a result of their employees surfing for March Madness information online. I've never been asked that one before...
It's actually an interesting question, though I doubt it impacts a corporate network that heavily. Certainly employees spend a fair amount of time online not related to business. The question was whether these activities negatively impact the efficiency of the corporate network during these times. It may depend on how many people are actually using the Internet to track March Madness. However, all things considered, I doubt very much that it will have a noticeable effect on the corporate network.
More than March Madness specifically, the question raised is really about how much impact personal use of the Internet at work effects the business. This is what has led to a new class of network device that helps manage the use of the Internet on the network. Unlike a traditional firewall that may allow or deny certain types of traffic or certain sites, these devices actually shape and measure the traffic. You can assign priorities to classes of network access, allowing traffic to say fedex.com to have priority over a site like amazon.com, just as an example.
If you think personal use of the Internet is effecting your company network, please let me know. I'm interesting to know your experience.
