Broadcast flooding, or "broadcast storms,” as they are called, occur when broadcast or multicast packets flood the network, slowing it down and degrading performance.

To make sure your network isn’t flooded with requests (for example, DHCP requests that assign IP addresses to network devices), you can activate an advanced network management feature called broadcast/multicast (BCMC) optimization.

BCMC optimization allows you to restrict unnecessary data packets from flooding your wired and wireless networks, cleaning up the clutter, and smoothing network traffic.

Specifically, BCMC optimization measures broadcast activity in one-second intervals and compares those measurements against a pre-configured threshold. If the threshold is reached, additional broadcast activity is suppressed until the one-second interval is over.

NOTE: When broadcast suppression occurs, data frames are dropped. This often happens when, for example, someone is watching a streaming video. The fact is, even if frames are dropped, the interruption is so miniscule, it is hard for the viewer to even notice.

BCMC optimization can be used in conjunction with VLAN pooling, which breaks a single network into separate virtual networks (VLANs) to reduce traffic. The two technologies together make especially large networks with multiple users and multiple devices run more efficiently.