The Winter Olympics are just around the corner—and Canada is ready to defend our “golden” performance from four years ago. Very exciting!

Can you watch the Olympics at work?

During the Vancouver Games, HSSBC and IMITS noticed quite a large spike in traffic on the VCH network as staff watched live events at work. These huge network loads can directly impact our ability to deliver patient care—especially during peak usage times when our internet connections are already fully used.

Because of this risk, IMITS asks that you refrain from watching live video of the Olympics at work and to watch in off-hours instead. If you want to know what’s going on they encourage you to visit results pages instead of watching video. If you simply must catch the action, watch the events in groups—perhaps book an “Olympics” room on site.

Which sites are safe?

Whether viewing live coverage, event replays or checking medal statistics online it is important, from a network security standpoint, to visit only trusted websites. Fake sites may be used to deliver malware or for spam/phishing campaigns. In Canada, CBC offers exclusive coverage of the Olympics, including livestreaming via cbc.ca/Olympics.

If Network Operations notices a material impact on our network load during the Olympics, they may look for ways to regulate the use of video during that time.

Thank you for respecting our need to protect patient care. And GO CANADA!