For years, you experience consistent, though gradually increasing, network bandwidth needs. Then, unexpectedly, you’re hit with a demand to increase your WAN bandwidth by 10x or even 100x. How does this happen, and how can you handle such unpredictable situations?

It’s unlikely everyone in the company suddenly started downloading HD movies, right? While that would certainly max out your bandwidth, it’s not a realistic scenario. Bandwidth demands don’t surge without reason. If you’re caught off guard, there’s likely a logical explanation that becomes clear in hindsight. The question is, could you have anticipated this need?

Sometimes, being caught off guard is unavoidable. While working at a large company, I received an email with an interesting attachment: a short video of a dancing baby. Intrigued, I watched it several times and shared it with colleagues. This, it turned out, was an early example of a viral video.

The IT department was overwhelmed as disk space quickly dwindled. It took them a while to realize that everyone’s inboxes were filled with copies of the dancing baby video, multiplying rapidly. An urgent message from IT management soon followed, urging everyone to stop sharing the video and delete existing copies. Crisis averted, and a massive disk drive order was canceled.

These days, we access content online. Instead of large email attachments, we receive web links. While this might spare your storage drives, any content viewed still needs to travel through your WAN. Even a small viral trend can clog a dedicated internet connection if the file size is large enough and many people try to access it simultaneously.

Here’s a more current example: C-level management, enticed by potential cost savings, insists on migrating all possible applications to the cloud as quickly as possible. In the ensuing chaos, the local data center shuts down while the same applications launch on a remote cloud provider. With seemingly limitless CPU cycles and on-demand storage, everyone anticipates the end of bottlenecks and lightning-fast processing speeds. However, disappointment sets in when users discover that previously quick system responses have become sluggish.

How is this possible? Tweaking performance at the cloud doesn’t seem to help. What’s been overlooked is that all the traffic, once running smoothly on the LAN, is now going through the WAN. The line capacity is insufficient, and latency is high. The decision to save money by accessing the cloud through the internet backfires as everyone’s data packets compete for bandwidth.

This situation can be avoided with careful planning and sufficient lead time to secure the necessary bandwidth resources. However, this can be challenging when bandwidth provisioning takes the longest. You can prepare for future surprises by choosing connections that are easier to scale than traditional telecom services. Carrier Ethernet is one such option. You can install a 1 GB port but initially commit to only 250 Mbps of service. Then, if a VP suddenly enrolls every employee in an online video training program, you can instantly request a bandwidth increase from your provider.

Contracting with an MPLS network provider, rather than managing your own private network of point-to-point dedicated lines, can also be advantageous. Upgrading bandwidth on numerous lines, particularly from copper to fiber, is a significant undertaking. Your MPLS provider might be able to quickly provide higher committed rates or allow you to burst to handle unexpected peaks. It’s best to discuss these possibilities before signing a service contract.

While it’s always possible to encounter an unforeseen surge in resource demand, including bandwidth, be aware that there are now services that make scaling bandwidth up and down much easier and faster than traditional methods. Invest some time in planning and explore available Carrier Ethernet and MPLS Network services designed for rapid scalability.