I need an official answer for a network admin and a knowledgable person on the board (whilst helpful as I stated and offered my gratitude) won't be enough for them.

You'll need to post on the SETI boards then, or use email; and if the boards you'll have to decide what "official" is, if a "volunteer developer" or "volunteer tester" or "forum moderator" is good enough, or if it has to be a "project scientist" or something... Be clear up front in your posting, who you require an answer from, and why; Paul's problem with your response _is_ understandable, because you didn't explain _why_ you couldn't just take John's answer. Once we know some "suit" is involved, well, we've all been there. But "need concrete facts" is pretty dismissive of what John gave you, and "or someone who has qualifications" is pretty dismissive of him personally; they _were_ the facts, as concrete as you're going to get, and he probably actually KNOWS more about the issue than someone "on staff" - you just have a particular, bureaucratic-not-technical, requirement.

I am amazed that such a huge project does not have an 'administrator' team available or at least some documents to reference that indicate whether or not the software is 'safe' to install and run.
I have even failed to find a contact person for either BOINC or SETI.
So thanks to those knowledgable people who offer their opinions which are valued.
However I do need concrete facts for my network admin so if there's anyone working for BOINC or SETI or someone who has qualifications to comment on the sofwtare I would appreciate hearing from them.

The project is "huge" only in our imaginations. BOINC and the SETI@Home team is, I think, a total of 6 paid people. THey have to do all the science, keep the machines running, write the software, and all the other tasks, oh and write proposals to get funding ...

Thus, they rely on volunteers in the spirit of open source. You can find contacts information on the front page of this site and send an e-mail, ask on the mailing lists, or here.

In almost all cases, the answer you are going to get comes from people like you that are participants, but, who *DO* have the knowledge. John Keck is one of the most knowledgeble people on the boards ...

All that said, I run a network of 9 computers, 24/7 most of the computers do nothing other than BOINC, the primary network is a standard 11G wireless to a 100 M link to the cable modem, with my workstations on a small 1G LAN segment (3 computers of the 9). So, the bulk of my machines have at most 100Mb connection or less run BOINC *AND* BOINC View as a monitor, now NetDimes, and I see *ZERO* impact on the network.

As John said, most of the time, the only time there may be a "load" is when downloading the application files, and in some cases the Work Unit Data File. Most of the time (CPDN excepted) the return Result Data File is only a couple kilobites in size. There is information in the Wiki about projects, file sizes and machine configurations.

So, if none of this is concrete enough ...

Oh, and my qualifications, 20 Years in the USN doing Aviionic repair using Automated Test Equipment, AA Equivelent in Electrical Engineering, BS in Computer Science (Summa Cum Laude), MS in Software Engineering, 10 years experience in Systems Engineering for the USAF (civil service), and, lets see, 2 1/2 years studying BOINC, writing/editing the BOINC Wiki (and predicessor sites) and commenting on the BOINC System. If necessary I can e-mail my resume ...

Forgive the sarcasm, but your dismissal of a correct answer was very condescending...

Very little. At the initial install there will be a bit of usage while each host downloades executables and work. Once this initial download is finished network usage drops dramatically.