[Publib] bandwidth

[Robert Sullivan]

> We have been experiencing extremely slow Internet connections.  So slow,
> that we cannot do online ordering, open pdf files, etc.  Our IT people say
> it is our patrons using all of the bandwidth downloading movies, playing
> games, etc.  They also say that getting additional bandwidth would do us no
> good, because patrons will just suck up whatever we have unless we prohibit
> them from gaming, streaming media, downloading media, etc.

Packeteer <http://www.packeteer.com/> is a bandwidth management
solution which our consortium has used with great success.  For
example, you may require that circulation has a guaranteed percentage
of the pipe to provide acceptable response time, even if every patron
is attempting to watch a video.

-- 
Bob Sullivan
Schenectady Digital History Archive
<http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/>
Schenectady County (NY) Public Library