Tag: Andy Murray

Categories
broadband Business

Broadband Network Traffic Peaks

I have occasionally written posts concerning the rise in internet traffic when there have been major world events.  Of course this included last week’s Wimbledon antics.

I thought it would be interesting for people to see an overlay in broadband network traffic week on week to see what a “normal” week would look like compared to a high traffic week.

The chart below shows last week’s Wimbledon peak traffic profile in the slightly lighter grey compared with the previous week’s.

wimbledon1

It’s a bit dark but if you click on the image a couple of times you should get a large enough view to see that when “our Andy” took to the court on Friday the traffic shot up by 30% compared to the same time last week.

The purple line at the botton represents an old low capacity 155Mbps BT Central pipe that is being decommissioned next month.  These older pipes struggle to cope with high network demand.  The 155 is being replaced with more 622 capacity.

Categories
broadband Business internet

Andy Murray Drives Broadband Network to a New High

Our broadband network usage hit a new high yesterday as Andy Murray wallopped Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets at Wimbledon.  The peak remained at a constant high between 4 and 5pm, at which point presumably everyone left the office and watched it at home because the network traffic dropped right off.

My understanding is that whilst an ISP’s network might well have been able to cope with the added traffic levels some problems were caused at  local exchange level where virtual paths were seeing congestion. The virtual path is the backhaul from exchange into the BT network and on to the internet, and in this case to the BBC website.

BT’s new 21CN network should be better placed to withstand this sort of traffic burst.

Expect another peak when “our Andy” plays in the semi final.  I feel as if I have known him all my life :-).

Categories
Business internet

Federer at the net attracts on net audience

Here we go again.  Wimbledon.  I never used to be a Wimbledon watcher but since taking my tennis playing son to see the tournament last year (Centre Court, Murray, Nadal, Venus Williams) I have changed my attitude.

This year I’m watching it from the office.  The web traffic that is.  At 13.00 hrs our network usage shot up and looking at it it is a mix of video streams that is making it happen. The same happened during Obama’s inaugural speech, this year’s budget speech (why?!) and last summer’s Olympics.

The effect is a bit like half time at an FA Cup Final when half the country gets up to make a cup of tea.  The other half of course gets up to go to the fridge to get another beer. Those kettles all going on at the same time ramps up the demand on the electricity network just like Roger Federer does for the internet.

I’m not really a football fan myself.  Come on Andy Murray!

Categories
Business UC video voip

More petrol woes

Sorry if I keep mentioning this subject but businesses are seriously getitng hit with the price of petrol and it isn’t just transport firms.

I sat opposite a company sales director on the train to London this morning who said that his petrol costs had doubled in the last year. He was now having to micromanage the sales calls of his team so that the most efficient routes were used to minimise the travel costs. He was even about to sell his Porsche!!! :-).

In case you were wondering I was on the way to Wimbledon. My youngest son won two centre court tickets in the ballot at his tennis club and yes we had an absolutely fantastic time. Not a cheap day out though with Wimbledon towels retailing at £24 a pop (x two for bonding purposes).

The keywords you need  to know are Venus Williams, Rapahel Nadal and Andy Murray. A great tennis day out.