What’s the best way to optimize your network use? Bandwidth management is the practice of measuring and controlling the communications on your network link to avoid overfilling it. Excessive streaming, downloading and other actions can result in network congestion which will lead to a disruption in productivity since users will have slow or no access to what they need.

Here are a few tips to regulate your bandwidth:

1. Continuously monitor and know your traffic: you should be familiar with your users and their behaviors so you can enforce proper usage.

2. Utilize trending and baselining: pinpoint abnormalities before they become problems. You will need a certain amount of historical data to spot the trends

3. Prioritize critical business applications: Make sure the applications necessary for running your business are at the forefront so they don’t get pushed aside by less important items. A QoS router can accomplish this

4. Utilize bandwidth management tools: Barracuda, Solarwinds and other companies have products on the market to help with this

5. Eliminate unneccessary protocols: printers and other equipment may be supporting protocols that are outdated or not needed

6. Limit use of YouTube, Facebook and iTunes: In a typical work environment, these sites do not need to be accessed regularly. Have an internet usage policy in place and utilize your firewall to make sure your employees are not updating their statuses and buying music on your bandwidth

7. Call Teltek! We can evaluate your workflow, run reports and install the necessary measures to ensure your bandwidth is fast and reliable. Contact Teltek today for a free site survey!

As a Microsoft Certified Partner and Dell Registered Partner, Teltek has the knowledge and resources necessary to keep your computer network and IT infrastructure current and functioning efficiently with the personalized service Teltek clients have grown to admire. With office locations in Baltimore and Westminster, Maryland, we offer one-stop technology systems support.