Partner Article

Zscaler platform analyses the streaming impact of the Winter Games

With this year’s Winter Games in Pyeongchang expected to have attracted five billion viewers globally, the impact on streaming has been undeniable. And Zscaler, which helps enterprises move securely to the cloud, has released its own data to prove it.

Zscaler experts analysed the level of streaming traffic from sports-related websites in the Zscaler cloud from 15th-22nd February 2018. The data revealed that people in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy typically streamed the Games during the working week. This is often the case around high-demand events, but as businesses increasingly move their infrastructure to the cloud, Zscaler believed these daytime streaming spikes will have a reduced impact on business applications.

“The growing popularity of sporting events like the Games means people are undoubtedly going to find ways of tuning in at work, which can have a significant impact on network bandwidth – something that has traditionally posed a problem for the IT team,” said Matt Piercy, vice president and general manager at Zscaler. “Indeed, as more businesses adopt BYOD policies, we’re finding a growing number of personal as well as corporate devices connected to the WLAN. Multimedia streaming, such as that witnessed during the Games, can hamper the performance of business critical applications, such as file sharing, backup, and Office 365.”

“However, the truth is that the modern enterprise will incur network spikes, planned or not, that will put a strain on network resources. Whether it’s the Winter Games, unexpected demand for a product, or an organised employee webcast, network spikes are no longer an anomaly – they’ll happen. The good news is that we are on the cusp of a new era for business. More and more enterprises are moving their infrastructure to the cloud, which offers a level of elasticity that businesses have not previously experienced. By embracing digital transformation, enterprises no longer need to buy new appliances, install virtual machines or block major events like the Games to accommodate spiked traffic.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Dave Barnes .