One business thriving in the time of the coronavirus is Zoom, software which facilitates video conferences.
Local broadband provider Chorus said its network is coping well and remains comfortably within available headroom as so much human interaction heads online through apps such as Zoom.
That's even though traffic peaked at 2.6 terrabytes per second last night, exceeding the Rugby World Cup 2019 peak traffic for the first time.
Zoom, which is based in San Jose, California, became the top free download from Apple's app store on Monday and is becoming essential for many businesses to continue functioning while their staff work from home.
But its use ranges way beyond that from facilitating birthday parties for toddlers in quarantine to socially-distanced teen raves to virtual classrooms for schools and universities.
Downloads soar
Zoom downloads jumped by 1,270 percent between Feb. 22 and March 22, according to data gathered by London-based Learnbonds.com.
Learnbonds said those using the Android and iOS platforms had a total of 17.2 million Zoom downloads with iOS getting a marginally greater share of downloads.
"An increase in daily downloads is expected as the coronavirus infection rate continues to spike globally with companies allowing employees to work from home," Learnbonds.com said.
The data show the largest age group among users, accounting for 24 percent, is those between 35 and 49 years old.
Other entities, such as museums, theatres, kindergartens and schools are also jumping on the online video meeting apps like Zoom to connect with people to sustain normal operations, Learnbonds.com said.
"Interestingly, as social gathering gets banned across the globe, Zoom has become a cultural phenomenon used to host parties, concerts, church services, and art shows," it said.
"The application’s popularity is based on its layout which makes it easy to talk with multiple people at once. Additionally, it has some features that mirror social media apps."
Zoom shares zoom
Little surprise that while share markets globally are crashing and burning, Zoom shares are zooming higher; when US market closed for Tuesday, Zoom shares had gained more than 76 percent year to date.
Disclosure: BusinessDesk is using Zoom for our daily editorial meetings, allowing us to see each other as we speak.
Meanwhile, Chorus is assuring New Zealanders it isn't suffering any congestion.
"As new behaviour patterns settle during the lockdown, we expect network traffic levels to reach a steady state," Chorus said.
"We are working with the retail service providers to ensure the points in the network where we handover traffic between one another also remain congestion free."
