£23m bill for web habits
Adam Hewitt • Published 4 Oct 2010 09:30
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BUSINESSES are picking up the £23m bill for their employees’ lunchtime web-surfing habits.
Research by Theale-based technology firm Star shows that usage of its data centres peak during lunchtime with 18% more bandwidth being used than at any other time of the day. Online television, video conferencing and calls have pushed up bandwidth per customer in the last year.
Star spokeswoman Maria Muller said: “This approach may mean that employers start to prioritise certain types of traffic, ensuring that the chairman’s email isn’t slowed down by an employee catching up on last night’s episode of EastEnders on iPlayer.”
Star’s chief operating officer John Adey said: “Companies will be forced to take a closer look at how their bandwidth is being used in order to ensure that they are not sizing their bandwidth capacity around non business usage.
“It will be hard to accept higher pricing for internet access.
“Yet the fact remains that the cost of providing next generation services requires investment to provide the infrastructure and tools to deliver them efficiently, and someone has to foot the bill.”
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