Did you know that on the opening day of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Butler experienced the largest amount of data ever to flow through our internet pipes? No? Well, here’s the story…
On any given Thursday during the school year, when students, faculty, and staff are on campus, there are anywhere from 5,000 – 12,500 devices on the network connected to the internet. These devices consist of personal mobile phones and tablets, laptop and desktop computers, phones, servers, and other machines. Naturally, the number of devices in use starts to increase around 8:00a.m. and peaks at 4:00p.m.
The amount of data these devices pull from the internet follows a similar pattern: usage rates increase around 8:00a.m. followed by a small peak of about 1.5 GB/s at 2:00p.m. when students, faculty, and staff are all on campus. Data usage reaches its maximum level at 1.75 GB/s around 10:00-11:00p.m.when students are relaxing by streaming videos, online gaming, and browsing the web. This is a very typical pattern and our network has been designed to accommodate this demand.
However, Thursday, March 23rd from 1:00-4:00p.m. was not a typical afternoon. As you are well aware, our favorite men’s basketball team was lighting the nets on fire as they dismantled Winthrop, advancing to the round of 32. During those three hours, Butler’s network experienced an unprecedented amount of data throughput, the likes of which this campus has never seen before! The amount of data pushing through those pipes was a whopping 40% higher than all other Thursdays. It’s safe to say that this caught the attention of our network analysts!
Kudos to our Infrastructure Operations team for building a network that enabled those of us who are basketball fans to enjoy the game anywhere on our wifi and wired internet network. They may be the ones working in the network closet, but they’re also the ones enabling your massive internet appetite!