Will March Madness Crash the Internet?

The Find: Video downloads are increasing dramatically and could cause serious bandwidth problems at the office.
The Source: A news study from the Consumer Electronics Forum

The Take-away: The CEA found that "nearly four in ten sports fans will download and watch a game... over the next two years, an increase of 10 percent from 2007."

Given that increase it shouldn't come as a surprise that Comcast and BitTorrent have been tussling for awhile, with Comcast accusing the video-sharing site of gumming up its network. But when Comcast CEO Doug Walker spoke to CNET recently, he admitted that BitTorrent isn't the real problem. Internet video is:

The stats are just absolutely overwhelming... Video to the PC and video to the TV is expected to grow by a factor of 10 over the next three to four years.

So have a look at the office March Madness pool. Imagine how many there are just like it. Then imagine nearly half of those buying brackets sitting down, not in front of the TV, but in front of their computers. That's a lot of Internet traffic.

Concerned about the effects of March Madness on your office? Weigh in by taking the poll. Also, how do you feel about workplace sports betting?

Jessica Stillman

Jessica lives in London where she works as a freelance writer with interests in green business and tech, management, and marketing.

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