Blue Coat appliance spots Spotify use at work

Move to control another bandwidth hungry desktop app

Application delivery platform provider, Blue Coat Systems Inc has added a new plug-in control to its network appliance so that businesses can identify and manage the use of the hugely popular Spotify music streaming service.

Network managers can now use the Blue Coat PacketShaper appliance to control Spotify at work by limiting bandwidth for the application, blocking it or reducing its priority to protect the performance of other business applications, the company said today. 

PacketShaper appliances are deployed to classify and monitor applications and application attributes before applying appropriate bandwidth and quality of service controls.

The Spotify online juke box application is said already to have half a million users in the UK and more than a million users in total, despite a softly, softly approach to its launch at the start of the year.  

According to Spotify, average listening times are over an hour per user per day and the recommended bandwidth requirement is 256 Kbps, although it is about to launch a 320kbps high quality streaming service.

Next to YouTube it could become one of the more popular bandwidth heavy applications that is accessed from a corporate desktop.

The new software plug-in for Spotify is available immediately and is free of charge to customers.

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