March Madness Hogs Bandwidth

TechFlash reports: The sun is shining in Seattle. And the March Madness basketball tournament is in its second day. That begs the question: Is anyone getting any work done today?

Well, according to a recent survey by Challenger Gray & Christmas, the NCAA basketball tourney alone could cost employers as much as $1.8 billion in unproductive wages. And, with CBS now streaming every game live, the tourney is also hogging corporate bandwidth.

Integra Telecom said it recorded a 15 percent spike in Internet business traffic yesterday, an increase it tied directly to the basketball tourney.

“The timing and pattern of this Internet traffic spike is most likely related to employees of Integra’s customers streaming online video of the NCAA basketball tournament,” said Integra Telecom's John Nee.

I did something for the first time yesterday as it related to the basketball tourney. I popped into the local pub with my laptop, keeping one eye on the Marquette-Washington game and one on my email.

After that game, my buddy who went to Kansas wanted to see how his beloved Jayhawks were faring against Lehigh. (Not well at the time). That game wasn't being shown on the TV, so we fired up the laptop in the pub and watched portions of that game online.

I know, kind of geeky. But my buddy from Kansas sure was happy.