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2006 FIFA World Cup May Cause Global Loss in Employee Productivity and Network Bandwidth

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 May 2006, 09:00 CDT

SAN DIEGO, May 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Websense, Inc. , a global leader in web security and web filtering productivity software, reports that Websense(R) software enables organizations to balance employee productivity and manage bandwidth usage during high profile sporting events, such as the upcoming 2006 Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) World Cup. Websense software allows organizations to apply flexible policies for employee internet use as well as desktop streaming media applications.

"The FIFA World Cup takes place only once every four years and is truly a global event that puts soccer on the center stage," said Michael Newman, vice president, general counsel for Websense. "Websense web security and filtering software provides an effective solution for organizations to allow their employees to enjoy the World Cup but remain productive during work hours. Organizations are able to maintain a work/life balance with their employees to uphold a positive and efficient work environment."

Beginning on June 9, 2006, in Germany, 32 teams from around the globe will participate in the tournament, playing for the distinction of winning the FIFA World Cup title on July 9th. Additional interest in this year's tournament will be generated by the fact that 2006 has seven first time nations playing, the most since the initial World Cup in 1930. Since many games during the month-long tournament take place during the work day, employees may be drawn to visit sports sites for score updates, video clips and game summaries during business hours.

Since June 2005, sports-related websites have seen over a 56 percent growth, increasing from nearly 329,800 to more than 515,780 today, with many offering real-time game scores, player statistics and up-to-the-minute analysis. With the massive number of sports websites and online video available, IT administrators can expect to see a considerable drain on employee productivity and network bandwidth during the 2006 World Cup.

According to the recently released Websense Web@Work study, conducted by Harris Interactive(R), 65 percent of men surveyed who access the internet at work admitted to accessing non work-related websites during work hours versus 58 percent of women. Additionally, of those men, 42 percent admitted to accessing sports-related websites at work with 18 percent of women declaring the same.

There are currently over 80,640 gambling websites available online, which introduces another issue for organizations during high profile sporting events. These gambling websites, together with the wagering attraction of the World Cup, introduce additional productivity issues for organizations. Many organizations state that participating in online wagering and gambling violates their written employee internet policies.

To lessen employee distractions, Websense allows organizations to institute flexible policies to effectively manage employee internet use. Websense software gives IT administrators the ability to control access to internet categories, such as sports, gambling and streaming media, during anticipated high levels of traffic.

Websense software offers IT manager's flexible options to accommodate a productive balance with their employees and web surfing requests. Patented flexible filtering options such as time based quotas allow employees a definable amount of time to access certain categories, such as sports sites, during events like the 2006 World Cup. Furthermore, organizations can allow access to these seasonally high demand sites, to enable occasional score and statistic checking, but not allow bandwidth intensive file types such as streaming audio and video to be accessed.

The Websense Web@Work survey can be viewed in its entirety at http://www.websense.com/global/en/PressRoom/MediaCenter/Research/webatwork/. For a free 30-day evaluation of Websense software or for more information on protecting your organization from a wide range of threats including spyware, peer-to-peer, virus outbreaks and internal hacking exploits, please visit http://www.websense.com/. Websense Security Labs(TM) offers free email security updates as new internet threats are discovered and is available at http://www.websensesecuritylabs.com/.

About Websense, Inc.

Websense, Inc. , a global leader in web security and web filtering software, is trusted to protect 24 million employees worldwide. Websense proactively discovers and immediately protects customers against web-based threats such as spyware, phishing attacks, viruses and crimeware with maximum protection and minimal effort. With diverse partnerships and integrations, Websense enhances our customers' network and security environments. For more information, visit http://www.websense.com/.

(C) 2006, Websense, Inc. All rights reserved. Websense and Websense Enterprise are registered trademarks of Websense, Inc. in the United States and certain international markets. Websense has numerous other unregistered trademarks in the United States and internationally. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

MEDIA CONTACT: Ronnie Manning Websense, Inc. 858 320 9274 rmanning@websense.com

Websense, Inc.

CONTACT: Ronnie Manning of Websense, Inc., +1-858-320-9274,rmanning@websense.com

Web site: http://www.websense.com/http://www.websensesecuritylabs.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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