Commenting on reports that millions of new iPhone 5’s could cause localized data crunches on cellular networks, according to Napatech (www.napatech.com). The network traffic analysis company says that enterprises and carriers who haven't taken steps to build the monitoring and analysis infrastructure needed to deal with exponentially growing mobile data traffic need to act now.

Reports are suggesting that as many as 10 million Apple iPhone 5 models could be sold in the first few days. These smartphones are also capable of operating at much higher bandwidths thanks to support for Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile data.

"We already know that smartphone users can consume up to 6 times more bandwidth than normal mobile phone users, but that was at much lower speeds than those supported by the iPhone 5," says Dan Joe Barry, vice president of the network analysis and acceleration technology specialist, Napatech. "Enterprises and carriers are already struggling to keep up with exponentially growing mobile data. This is in effect just adding more wood to the fire."

Most people -- whether at home or in the office -- complain about the speed of the Internet, and particularly the slow rate at which web pages load, but the vast majority accept the problem as a fact of Internet life, he adds. This is despite the fact that – where enterprise networks are concerned -- it is very often the network pinch points that cause the "Internet to slow down, he adds. Napatech's observations tell them that the rising tide of BYOD smartphones -- topped off by the arrival of the iPhone 5 -- is aggravating the situation.

Barry went on to say that the solution to countering the effects of these pinch points is a simple one -- and centers on monitoring the IT/network resources in order to gain a complete picture of what's happening, and using this information to plan ahead for what has become a constantly evolving IT/network landscape.

"The products and solutions are already available," he says. "But, network monitoring and analysis can often be an afterthought or addressed in an ad-hoc manner. The key is to consider network monitoring and analysis holistically in support of the network and service management strategy."