With the launch of M-Net`s Idols Web site yesterday, M-Web was quick to quash fears of a repeat of the Big Brother site, which brought the South African Internet to its knees last September due to increased network traffic. It hopes that cooperation between Internet service providers will allow viewers to see the site in all its streaming media glory.
According to a press statement released last week, M-Web says it will host the site at UUNet`s peering point, linking it directly to M-Web, UUNet and SAIX. The online service provider is also providing sufficient bandwidth to ISPA-aligned (Internet Service Providers` Association) ISPs through the JINX (Johannesburg Internet Exchange) point. The site has also been optimised for caching, according to M-Web, which could potentially increase site performance.
However, Internet Solutions (IS) was quick to warn customers that Idols could still impact corporate networking performance. "It`s difficult to predict the show`s popularity, but if it follows in the steps of Big Brother, which aired last year, performance is likely to be affected," says Angus MacRobert, CEO of IS, in a statement in IS`s Techno-Update. "The congestion may have a material impact on employees` ability to effectively conduct the business activities for which corporate customers primarily utilise our services. We will update users with any relevant information regarding the site and its impact on business."
The site features streaming audio and video, video-on-demand, chat rooms and online voting, all of which could potentially dampen network performance if used en masse. IS has offered its corporate customers the option of blocking the site by logging a service request or contacting IS`s call centre.
M-Web was not available for comment at the time of publication.
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