Corporate Network Managers Brace for Bandwidth Hog MP3.

After conducting a focus group with 22 network managers, Carlsbad, California-based research firm Computer Economics Inc has reported the group's unanimous concern over the potential impact of MP3 on corporate bandwidth. Computer Economics conducts an annual study on IT spending and trends. It has 2200 companies in its databases and polls them on a variety of issues. The focus group of 22 network managers was drawn from those who had already reported concern about improper uses of bandwidth, such as surfing for porn from the office. They say MP3 is sure to make matters worse.

"Bandwidth use is what they're focused on right now," Computer Economics' VP of research, Michael Erbschloe, told ComputerWire. "In the future, we'll see people figure out a way to attach viruses to these sorts of files, but that's

not seen as the immediate problem. Right now it's the question of misusing bandwidth." Many of the network managers Erbschloe polled raised the possibility of filtering network traffic and banning MP3s. Erbschloe calls on the network management software vendors to address these concerns. "We expect new monitoring tools will be designed to help eradicate this threat, although we're not hearing anything about it yet," he said.

Interestingly, the most common complaint raised about MP3 so far - that it lacks inbuilt copyright protection, thus lending itself to intellectual property piracy - was apparently not weighing heavily on the network managers' minds. "For the most part, they feel they can blame [any instances of piracy] on the individual employee," Erbschloe explained, "these days, most employees are expected to sign off on standard policies that indemnify corporations from those sorts of threat."