Today, the Internet has become a part of everyday business transactions. Without the Internet, most businesses could not operate efficiently. What most companies do not realize is without the proper amount of bandwidth, your business functions could become impeded, reducing your company’s productivity. One of the best ways to ensure your company does not run out of bandwidth is through the use of traffic shaping.
Understanding Bandwidth
The capacity your Internet connection can handle is the bandwidth. The ability for your business to be able to transfer packets of information over the Internet is reliant on your bandwidth. If you have large applications taking up a majority of the bandwidth, other important applications will be unable to run. This is why it is important to prioritize your functions, determining what is vital to your company’s success and limiting the access to other programs that simply take up the space.
Choosing the Right Packets
As an IT administrator or business owner, it is up to you to choose the packets that take up the information highway of your Internet connection. Similar to a traffic jam, the jam that occurs on your Internet connection will stop everything from working if priorities are not set. It is up to you to determine which path each packet should take to ensure smooth operation of your Internet applications. Traffic shaping simply means you need push each application onto its appropriate path for your business.
Preventing Crashes
Part of the job of the IT manager is to determine the best way to channel all the packets. When a crash occurs, your Internet connection simply stops working. This is much worse than simply slowing the connection down. It prevents any work from getting done simply because the Internet connection cannot perform beyond its capabilities.
The Internet is one of the most critical components of any business, whether large or small. This importance makes it vital for all businesses to practice traffic shaping to ensure their Internet connection never crashes, reducing the company’s ability to function properly. If the thought of losing the Internet connection causes you to start panicking, it is time to look into how you can prioritize certain programs and even restrict the use of other programs that take up the bandwidth and are not conducive to your company’s business.
