Business ISP Star UK, a provider of on-demand computing and communication services to businesses, reports that network traffic from its 3,500 business customers increased by 50% during yesrerday lunchtime as employees logged on during work hours to watch the Ryder Cup and first day of action at the Indian Commonwealth Games.



The increase in traffic can often be attributed to workers watching the games through internet video services, such as the BBC's iPlayer or YouTube. This can easily consume hundreds of MegaBytes' in a very short space of time (e.g. often less than 30 minutes).

Another factor that boosts bandwidth consumption is the extra traffic generated around such events as employees share the experience with friends, family and colleagues on social networking sites and related services.