The World Cup is a fantastic global event that simultaneously sparks great rivalry and togetherness, and while we embrace the magnificent atmosphere that is created in the office, at school, etc., organizations must consider the impact that user behavior can have on the network during this time.
Nobody wants to miss a game, but as global events go, kickoffs can’t accommodate everyone’s personal time, meaning that sadly for some of us, the games will take place during working hours. Many organizations recognize that fighting lowered productivity during a game is futile, knowing that at least one eye will always be on the latest updates aside our email.
Whether organizations promote time out during an important game as an opportunity for team building, or blanket ban the words football or soccer, they cannot escape increased network traffic due to streaming and score updates. In either case there are some important infrastructure elements to consider. 
First is the fact that you may start to see more devices popping up in your network, most likely tablets and smartphones. Does your organization allow for BYOD? If yes, how do you currently get those devices connected to the network, is it a manual or automatic process? How much IT time and resource does this take? Have you ensured that these personally owned devices have limited network access to avoid potential security threats?
Whatever the reason for allowing consumer devices onto your network (Corporate-issued or BYOD), ensure that you implement appropriate security measures and policies to protect the network from malicious activity. Allowing a wider variety of devices onto your network can also consume IT resources, as these devices must be provisioned for secure access. With this in mind, investigate the network on-boarding capabilities of your wireless LAN vendor to make device connectivity both secure (through role-based access) and simple (through device on-boarding methods).
Next you want to consider how these additional devices can reduce Wi-Fi network performance once connected. Smartphones and tablets don’t have wired network connections and therefore rely on Wi-Fi, however the more devices that connect to a wireless access point, the less bandwidth there is to go around. During game time you may find people congregating in certain areas, which could mean that staff using their corporate devices to work from may suffer as a result of the contention.
Enterprise wireless LAN solutions should offer the ability for bandwidth management of access points. If your network is seeing a rise in mobile devices connecting to your Wi-Fi, take a look at load balancing (distributing client devices across different access points to maximize bandwidth); band steering (distributing client devices across different radios within a single access point to ensure that one of the radios is not over utilized); dynamic airtime scheduling (prioritizing faster client devices over slower ones); user and device profiling (Identify who and what are attempting to send data then prioritize or restrict them according to your defined network policy), all of these capabilities will guarantee that your corporate network can run smoothly.
So, imagine that you are watching the game and it starts to buffer on screen or the quality is so poor that you can’t even see the ball, tragedy. Quality of Service (QoS) is key to any wireless LAN supporting a range of users, devices and applications. Whether you are watching a crucial moment in a match or trying to hold a video web conference with colleagues in another location, voice and video quality across the network (both wired and wireless) must be prioritized.
Traditionally, voice and video over wireless was a no-go zone due to legacy roaming, bandwidth and latency issues. Today, enterprise wireless LAN vendors have implemented technology advances that guarantee service levels for users, devices and applications. With access points supporting QoS, service level agreements, fast and secure roaming, and application visibility and control, voice and video over wireless is a viable alternative to legacy, costly communication services.
Finally, are you planning for a live stream on some of the big screens to share the fun with the team? Apple TVs are an easy way to project media from your iPad or other mobile device, but as networks become more complex in design, you may find that although you don’t have security restrictions between users and devices on your network, your mobile device may still struggle to connect to the Apple TV.
Apple developed a brilliant protocol called Bonjour, which opened the door for one-click networking. Bonjour allows your device to scan for a service like printing or screen sharing, and then with a click of button, instantly send your data to a peripheral such as printer or Apple TV with zero configuration, simple. Unfortunately this great service only works for devices in a single VLAN, therefore anyone in a second VLAN is blind to the service. Apple acknowledged this limitation in the enterprise and utilized Aerohive’s access points to provide visibility of Bonjour services across VLANs. Make sure if you plan on streaming, printing or sharing across wireless or wired networks, that your network has Bonjour-aware services across network segments.
It’s not just during the World Cup that you are going to see more devices on your network; the rise of mobile devices in the enterprise is still in its infancy. Start considering now how well prepared you are from a management, security and performance point of view, otherwise while everyone else provides support to their World Cup team, the only support you’ll be showing is to the angry people who can’t connect to the network.