A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report warns that the H1N1 flu epidemic could overwhelm the Internet if a flood of office workers suddenly shifts to working from home.
And a second analyst report says companies need to plan ahead for stay-at-home workers, along with other realities brought on by a potential pandemic.
The bandwidth problem isn’t with the Internet itself, but with Internet service providers (ISPs). Simply put, consumer-focused ISPs have less available bandwidth and older equipment than do their business-oriented counterparts.
“Broadband networks for home connectivity are massively oversubscribed,” explains Darin Stahl, lead analyst for Info-Tech Research Group : “To put this in perspective, a broadband provider may sell 100 10-Mbit/s broadband connections for every 10 Mbit/s of upstream connectivity to the Internet -- or a 100:1 oversubscription ratio.”
Another problem: Bandwidth allocation on home broadband connections is not symmetrical. “For instance, a 10-Mbit/s broadband connection allows for a maximum of 10 Mbit/s when downloading, but only 1 Mbit/s or less for uploading,” Stahl says.
Now consider what happens to those oversubscribed, asymmetrical broadband networks when a geographic region is particularly hard-hit by a pandemic flu virus. What happens, for instance, when 50 percent of the office worker population in the area is working from home, utilizing broadband to connect to corporate networks?
“The answer is that the broadband infrastructure and upstream connectivity will crumple under the pressure,” warns Stahl. Add to that the potential problem with illness among ISP staff charged with maintaining connectivity and equipment, and the problem quickly scales.
There is no easy answer to the consumer-grade broadband network dilemma. For key staff, it may be necessary to provide more costly, yet committed, connectivity.
“This may take the form of bonded ISDN lines or fractional T1 connections. Due to cost, this would be limited only to those in critical roles -- those activities that are critical to keep the business operating,” advises Stahl. “For non-business critical roles, it will likely be satisfactory to maintain even sporadic connectivity that may be available on broadband networks.”
There is more to flu planning than ensuring an optimal Web connection. A report from Info-Tech outlines four other IT elements that are critical to business continuity in the event of a widespread H1N1 outbreak:
Collaboration tools and technologies
Enterprise and desktop applications
Service desk tools and desktop support
Virtual private networks (VPNs) and virtual desktops
Web conferencing tools are highlighted in the report as crucial, because they allow employees to collaborate in real time on business documents, spreadsheets, and enterprise applications while quarantined in their homes. The report recommends that organizations without a Web conferencing technology standard quickly choose and implement one.
The report further recommends that IT staff ensure the following is in place:
On-premises tools for IT. Tools that enable IT to remotely work with end users over the Web to resolve issues and problems will help to minimize the chance and spread of infection.
Remote tools for workers. Should an outbreak require staff to work remotely, ensure that they also have access to the key systems they’ll need.
An “outbreak” service level agreement. This will ensure that everyone understands that in extraordinary situations normal expectations around service and function may not apply. Enterprises must build expectations from the baseline of what is needed to keep the business operational -- and work upward from there.
Advance preparation. IT can work ahead of time to ensure that any teleworking solutions will be able to keep up with critical business functions when under increased loads. Working with the business to identify key users and functions that must continue will lead to a detailed plan and funding as required.
Stahl also differentiates between disaster recovery planning (restoring IT technology and services) and business continuity (continuation of business functions and processes):
“Business continuity demands more attention to critical business processes and management issues than it does technology solutions."
— Pam Baker is the author of eight books and a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in CIO.com, NetworkWorld, ComputerWorld, IT World, and other magazines.
During this terible influenza pandemic Less than 200 Americans have died from it. In the same time period thousands have died in auto wrecks and bathroom accidents. I'm of the opinion that this is a non-event on the scale of y2k. If the news stopped reporting every case of the flu, it would stop being a concern. It is a good thing to plan ahead for a disaster. But this ain't it. And when the event never appears, lethagy will set in, and something bad will happen. We need to Stop crying wolf.
You're right, of course. People are often overlooked in this equation. To add to your comments I would say that the people that keep ISPs up and running could be out with the flu thus furthering the difficulties of getting an Internet connection from home. Or, from work for that matter.
Even the best of preparations can't solve the entire problem.
people here have overlooked one point. The people.They will be laying in bed. Or going to the doctor. And someone who casn't read their email or get access to the latest budget report will be a terciary concern for the flu stricken IT person.
When Southern California wild fires strike, these localized catastrophies have proven that inet asccess, has not been adversly effected. Even though demand increased and more IT people were out to take care of their homes. Bussiness communication over the Internet never arose as an issue.
Excellent point! Better hope the companies have already addressed this issue...
Where I work, to get VPN access we have to have it justified, approved, etc ad infinitum. In a situation you describe, we'd be twiddling our thumbs if we didn't already have VPN access.
Add to the readiness for home workers, is to make sure the Company network can handle that many VPN users. Citing from prior experiences, if everyone or almost all 50+ users of any office logged on via VPN, can the network handle that many DHCP requests? What about the firewall bandwidth?
A recent snow storm in my part of the country forced many users to log on and work from home...thus pointing out the need to make sure all of them could logon to the network without any problems.
While the points made in the report are right on target, what makes me laugh is that, hey, weren't companies supposed to be doing and thinking of all this stuff when we supposedly had the Bird Flu, SAR, etc starin' us in the face???
I'm saying, Modza, that unless that T-1 is "dedicated", in our experience, you won't be getting a T-1. When companies get to carrier-grades and capacities like OC-3 and DS-3, they are sophisticated enough to measure what they receive. And, contracts generally have quality thresholds built-in.
We are way off the question of whether the Swine Flu will bring down the internet as we know it today. Speed and capacity? It is fungible? Yes...
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