Video and file sharing eating corporate bandwidth
The number of people streaming video and sharing files in the workplace has increased exponentially since November 2011, indicating a blurring of the lines between professional and private life, according to a new report.
Based on assessments of raw application traffic from 2,036 organisations worldwide, Palo Alto Networks found that video streaming increased by more than 300% between November 2011 and May 2012, now representing 13% of all bandwidth consumption.
Meanwhile, peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing bandwidth consumption jumped 700% to represent 14% of overall bandwidth, growing more than any other application category.
An average of 34 different streaming media applications and 13 browser-based file sharing variants, including MegaUpload, which was taken down in January 2012, were found on the majority of participating organisations’ networks.
While some of these applications do present a security risk, Palo Alto Networks said the news should not be a cause for panic. "The key to this ‘new reality’ is not to ignore or even vilify the existence of these applications, but to manage their usage with policies that give today’s modern workforce the flexibility they desire without impeding on the business," said René Bonvanie, chief marketing officer, Palo Alto Networks.
"Companies are finding that they can successfully implement network security controls that enable web application usage for employees while still ensuring that quality-of-service standards for business-critical applications are met and security threats are managed."
Social networks also now have a well-established presence in organisations, with at least one social network detected on 97% of networks, and an average of 29 different social networking applications were found in each participating organisation.
Facebook and Twitter were predictably dominant, but Tumblr and Pinterest have both gained traction in terms of frequency and volume of use, the report found.
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