19 July 2006

The increasing prevalence of fast broadband connections at home and in the office prompted more football fans than ever to watch the World Cup over the Internet.

Some companies felt they had to take precautions to cope with increased demand from employees watching football games on their computer screens as opposed to their TV screens.

Experts have told worried company executives that one way to handle the situation might be to balance recreational network use with that which is "mission critical", according to Computer Weekly.

Richard Warley, UK managing director of web host provider Savvis, commented: "It is best to have a culture where people respect the company's resources.

"There is no point in regulating the technology without self-regulation."

The World Cup resulted in a several TV networks and organisations seeing increased traffic as Internet users took to the web to catch up on the latest scores and information.

BBC Sport had 3.4 million unique users over the tournament and was the most popular sports and gambling destination during the World Cup.

© Adfero Ltd

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