Network managers are wasting millions of pounds buying bandwidth they don't need, according to industry analysts.

Figures released last week from the London Internet Exchange (Linx) show that traffic levels at the largest exchange in Europe are only reaching 3Gbps at peak times. But many firms have provisioned their networks to deal with traffic at much higher levels than this, even though they may not use it.

Pim Bilderbeek, vice president of network research for Europe at IDC, said it was too easy for companies to solve network problems by throwing money at them rather than by intelligent management of the network.

"The other option is to go into the management of the network and look at software and virtual private networks. But this is very technical and takes a lot of good management. It is easier, but more expensive, just to use extra bandwidth," he said.

Steve Broadhead, director of networking at analyst NSS, said the Linx figures proved the internet is not being used to its full potential.

"I think 3Gbps reflects the way the internet is still currently used - largely as a basic email transport. If users really were getting heavily into application service provision across the net, into real-time video and other genuinely bandwidth-sapping applications, it would be interesting to see what kind of peak throughput figures we would get through the exchanges, and whether the internet could actually cope," he said.

Neil Rickard, research director for networking at Gartner, said that corporate wide area networks are usually only running at rates of 155Mbps, with 622Mbps being the high end. "But many campus local area networks (Lans) use gigabit ethernet (GE) or multiple implementations of GE speeds. Often on these networks the traffic loadings are lower and it's not unusual for them to be just 20 per cent," he said.

Ian Sheppard, Lan marketing manager at integrator Telindus K-net, explained that networks always needed to include extra bandwidth.

"This is especially true of ethernet Lans because until now the only way to offer quality of service was [through] over provision. If you are building an ethernet network that is going to run even megabits per second, you need GE just to guarantee it," he said.

First published in Network News

See also:

Gigabit ethernet market set to rocket

The market for gigabit ethernet (GE) and 10 GE is set to reach new heights over the next four years, a report has claimed.  04 Oct 2000

Network over-provision - the new Holy Grail

Network managers have been accused of taking on more bandwidth than they need as a substitute for managing their companies' systems properly.  13 Sep 2000

Wireless networks: the winners and losers

The popularity of wireless technology is catching up with cable networks. But will network managers ditch fibre optic and copper in favour of wireless Lans?  05 Sep 2000

Broadband costs set to rocket

The auction for 28Ghz Broadband Fixed Wireless Access licences will start on 5 September, amid fears that ballooning bids will push the price of the service sky-high and discourage take-up.  30 Aug 2000

Home security webcams threaten networks

Corporate networks in the UK will soon come under pressure from tech-savvy employees wanting to monitor their homes Big Brother-style using webcams, analysts at Gartner have warned.  25 Aug 2000

Telcos push for super-speed net standard

BT and France Telecom are among 30 telecoms industry leaders that have joined forces to accelerate the development of technology that could increase internet download speeds to 400-times that of ISDN.  09 Aug 2000

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