How to Better Utilize Available Network Bandwidth

SDWAN network bandwidth

Increasing network bandwidth resources can be pricey if done in the traditional way.

Many of today’s businesses have found that when they first established their network bandwidth and IT infrastructure, there weren’t as many devices drawing resources. In some cases, this is due to company growth, in others this discovery comes as a result of a larger pool of employee mobile devices through a BYOD program. Whatever the reason, the majority of enterprises would rather not pay out the nose for a higher level of network bandwidth.

While this may seem an insurmountable task, administrators need not get discouraged. Thankfully, there are strategies organizations can leverage to improve their use of existing network bandwidth and affordable broadband alternatives to add more bandwidth without shredding their IT budgets.

Monitor network bandwidth usage to gauge current utilization
Before taking steps to increase or better manage network resources, decision-makers must have a clear picture of where current usage levels sit. GigaOM contributor Dave Greenbaum advised first monitoring bandwidth usage once a week to establish a benchmark. This step can also help illuminate the areas and devices that use the most resources.

Determining appropriate use of streaming platforms
Oftentimes, access to streaming websites for music or other content is more of a luxury than an essential asset. However, sometimes streaming media is needed for business purposes. Websites that deliver that can be a large consumer of network bandwidth, TechRepublic contributor Brien Posey pointed out. While it is nice for employees to be able to utilize Pandora and Netflix, if they are not necessary for business functions, administrators may want to consider limiting access to these sites – or blocking them altogether – to conserve network bandwidth for other more mission-critical pursuits.

Utilization of VoIP and videoconferencing
Just as streaming media sites can gobble up a considerable amount of network bandwidth, so too can VoIP and videoconferencing systems. These technologies come with numerous advantages that tend to override the bandwidth issue, so limiting use of voice calls and video meetings is not generally a favorable idea. Still it is a good idea to understand the amount of bandwidth these applications are consuming within an organization and identify any disproportionate usage.

Disable automatic updates
While the IT team may moan and groan at the suggestion of disabling automatic updates, preventing programs from automatically updating can save considerable network bandwidth, Posey noted. An alternative is to centralize the process.

“For example, rather than let every PC in your office connect to the Microsoft Update Service, you should set up a WSUS server to download all updates and then make them available to the individual PCs,” Posey advised. “That way, the same updates aren’t being downloaded over and over again.”

When an organization has adequate and ongoing visibility to the applications that consume its bandwidth, its leaders can more easily determine how much additional bandwidth is needed and explore newly available options for supplementing their current leased lines with affordable broadband, often at a fraction of the cost of adding a second or larger leased line. Aggregating bandwidth and balancing traffic loads across multiple links is common in today’s wide area networks, and technologies, such as WAN virtualization, have emerged that provide excellent security and quality of service over public broadband.

For more information about link aggregation, load balancing and WAN virtualization, contact Ecessa.