Australian employers have been warned that the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games could strain IT networks to the limit because of huge spikes in internet traffic caused by armchair sports fan employees.

According to internet content monitoring services provider, SurfControl, the Games will prompt a rise in web activity that hogs network bandwidth, as the trend of viewing sporting events through new technologies such as webcasts and podcasts takes hold.

Managing director of SurfControl in Australia Charles Heunemann said that webcasts and podcasts were the latest way for time-poor sports addicts to get their fix.

“This technology taps into our ‘on-demand’ culture, where no one wants to wait until they see the Games action at home on the television,” Heunemann said.

“While it’s a great way to see up-to-the-minute Games action, the drawback – apart from obvious productivity concerns –  is that downloadable content can seriously compromise network efficiency.

“For example, in the time Jodie Henry has swum the 100m freestyle, one employee viewing a webcast of the race from their desktop will have sucked 7MB of network bandwidth. Multiply that by 20 employees doing the same thing at the same time, and employers could be facing a serious internet glitch.”

Heunemann recommended that rather than taking a draconian approach, employers should install internet kiosks where employees were free to view Games events, or set times when such activity would have limited effect on business Internet traffic – like lunch times and before and after work.

“I don’t think any reasonable employer would want to deny workers the chance to keep up with the news on big ticket events during the Games. The key is providing employees ways to view these events without compromising productivity or hampering network efficiency,” Heunemann said.

He said that the popularity of the Internet as a means of viewing big sporting events was evident in the recent Torino 2006 Winter Olympics, where the website attracted five times more hits than the site of the previous Winter Olympics.)

“Availability of this technology for large sporting events has snowballed in the past 12 months. With the Games, and then the 2006 World Cup coming up, it will pay for Aussie employers to be prepared.”