Workplace Internet Challenges
by Sam C. Chan
first published May 5, 2016 last updated Feb 26, 2017
for JBC
why workplace bandwidth demand keeps rising?
- SEP AV definition database has become bulky
- and it's needed daily
- in addition, Proactive Threat Protection & Network Threat Protection updates
- for sites w/o SEP server, bandwidth consumption multiplied by # of stations/devices
- automatic/manual updates of application software and O.S.
- email attachments
- HTTP/HTTPS traffic
- web sites design more script-based and media rich
- encrypted connections add overhead
- live typing (char-by-char) submission & reaction
- staging & predictive pre-caching (web accelerator, turbo surfing, blah blah)
- per-request submission for screening/logging/approval: generates extra
traffic
- traditional application software vendors creeping up "cloud" play
- "cloud-based" applications (just a label, almost meaningless, lots of schemes)
- personal/consumer activities
- social media now auto-play video in your feeds (Facebook and Twitter)
- YouTube, chained auto-play default ON
- music streaming: Pandora, Rhapsody, Sportify, Amazon Prime, Apple Music, Google Play Music
- shopping, zoom/rotate view grabs multiple hi-res images; char-by-char
live-search
- online storage & file transfer
- various cloud drives
- indiscriminate sync
- online backup
- P2P traffic (likely personal & unauthorized, but could also be official business for your firm)
- remote access sessions
- on-premises web/FTP hosting
- multi-site (branch-HQ) setup
- network scan via email!
- wifi devices: browsing, email, apps, streaming, update, cloud storage (staff & guests)
- VOIP traffic (staff/guests personal devices, and/or firm phone system)
perception and discernment threshold
- nature of activity:
- web browsing vs RDP vs VNC (tolerance: 7s+, 1s, 0.25s)
- bulkiness of traffic involved
- robustness, auto-reconnect, resume-able?
- realtime vs batch
- user sophistication and attentiveness
subtle, counter-intuitive, but important points
- concepts
- don't conflate bandwidth with latency and jitter
- rated speed is deceptive, not actual throughput (best-effort, not guaranteed)
- asymetrical channels: up/down 1:20 ratio (effective)
- business class DIA is symetrical and has guarantee
- business account is NOT business class service
- over-subscription at all levels: your site, neighborhood concentrator, local ISP
office, peering points, upstream provider(s), Internet backbone
- inbound vs outbound traffic
- bursty nature of traffic
- periodic collision of events
- most small bizs have worst situation than homes, due to high sharing ratio, more sophisticated operations, and much higher realtime requirement
- mitigation
- objectives & priorities
- expectations & requirements
- coordination & consolidation
- traffic shaping (QoS)
- behavioral changes, rules, awareness, strategies
- enforcement of bans, filtering, redirecting, forced proxy
- implement VOIP correctly
- implement isolated subnets
- ponder this
- over the past 22 years, internet traffic has grown 1000x ~ 10,000x,
- with corresponding bandwidth improvement of 150x ~ 750x for typical home/small biz
- in the past 5 years along it grew 5x ~ 20x
- doubling/quadrupling of ISP line alone won't counteract it
- in fact, no amount of brute-force bandwidth increase will help,
- as consumption immediately fills available bandwidth, if not actively controlled
- besides, the next level up on TWC's copper plans has zero
improvement on outbound: see my chart below
- based on my test results, I presume you're currently on 30/5 plan
- for virtually all sites, implementing QoS (traffic shaping/packet
prioritization) is mandatory
- additional measures might be needed (proxy, blocking, scheduling)
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