Re: Broadband usage statistics

[Steve Frank <stevefrankrit () yahoo com>]

Keenan,

I wish I had some good statistics to show you about
network utilization compared to bandwidth size... but
I do have some interesting stories nonetheless. First
off, I'd say the average user doesnt do much when it
comes to network traffic/bandwidth usage. From my
somewhat limited experience, most users I've watched
run email clients, 1-5 web browsers, occasional
streaming audio programs like shoutcast or winamp,
various chat programs, or "weather bug" applications.
Most of these users don't cause much of a problem for
network bandwidth in my experience.

On the other hand, I have witnessed some less typical
"power users" totally eating up their bandwidth by
transfering/downloading/uploading files with sharing
tools such as kazaa. These users sometimes play online
games like everquest which can create alot of traffic
at the same time. On a related note, users who host
files or have their workstation configured as a server
can cause all sorts of havoc on a network. Case in
point, last year at RIT, a student who operated a
?hotline? Macintosh file server took up 94% of the
total Dual-OC3 connection. Needless to say the network
administrators found out and shut it down. But on an
open network, those kind of situations wouldn't
surprise me.

Thanks,

Steve Frank

-------------------
President of SPARSA
Security Practices and Research Student Association
Rochester Institute of Technology

--- Keenan Smith <kc_smith () clark net> wrote:
> All,
>
> Is anybody aware of a survey or study of some sort
> that details a typical
> user's broadband usage relative to the size of the
> pipe?
>
> I'm trying to roll out a remote access solution
> using VPN as a secure
> transport into our LAN.  So far in all cases, there
> has not been a problem
> with system or pipe load.  However, it was suggested
> the other day that some
> users may have maxed-out connections (hard to
> imagine for a single broadband
> user doing mainly email and other typical
> office-related work maxing out
> their pipe) that would make VPN an unusable solution
> given the extra
> overhead.
>
> Rather than waiting to find out and having to
> explain to my boss with a
> red-faced "Duh" that I didn't know, I'd like to find
> out what percentage of
> users regularly max-out their connection so I know
> if I'll have to come up
> with some other way to secure a connection into our
> backoffice or if I'll
> have to budget for extra bandwidth on the user's
> end.
>
> What I need is how many people or companies, on
> average, max-out their
> connections?  I don't believe that a single user
> with a cable modem or DSL
> would ever have this problem, but how about a small
> organization of 5 or 10
> people?
>
> Some basic measurements at the last company I worked
> for indicated that
> despite 50 users sharing a single T1 and many of
> them doing streaming
> audio/video as well as large downloads, never went
> above an average 15%
> utilization of a T1.
>
> Is that typical or was that company particularly
> efficient in their network
> usage?
>
> Most of my info is not quantifiable so I'm looking
> for some hard facts and
> figures.
>
> Thanks in advance for any advice/info.
>
> KC Smith
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Evaluating SSL VPNs' Consider NEOTERIS, chosen as
> leader by top analysts!
> The Gartner Group just put Neoteris in the top of
> its Magic Quadrant,
> while InStat has confirmed Neoteris as the leader in
> marketshare.
>      
> Find out why, and see how you can get plug-n-play
> secure remote access in
> about an hour, with no client, server changes, or
> ongoing maintenance.
>           
> Visit us at:
> http://www.neoteris.com/promos/sf-6-9.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evaluating SSL VPNs' Consider NEOTERIS, chosen as leader by top analysts!
The Gartner Group just put Neoteris in the top of its Magic Quadrant,
while InStat has confirmed Neoteris as the leader in marketshare.
     
Find out why, and see how you can get plug-n-play secure remote access in
about an hour, with no client, server changes, or ongoing maintenance.
          
Visit us at: http://www.neoteris.com/promos/sf-6-9.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------