The rate of operational deployment of IP telephony by large companies is accelerating rapidly. According to a recent global survey conducted by Australian PROGNOSIS systems management software developer, Integrated Research , one of the main drivers of this trend is the adoption of IP-based video conferencing by multinationals.

The question for most organizations is no longer whether to adopt IP telephony, but how to migrate from their existing PBX infrastructures.

"The trend is clear; enterprises are moving from trial to full production deployments of IP telephony as their existing PBXs approach the end of their contract lives," said Kailem Anderson, Product Manager, IP telephony products for Integrated Research. "Other key factors driving IP telephony sales are the reduction of operating costs achievable through the deployment of applications such as IP-based videoconferencing and a perception that IP telephony has come of age and is now lower risk."

More than 15,000 executives responsible for IT infrastructure were invited to participate in the online study in September 2004 - a year on from Integrated Research's similar study on this topic. The U.S. accounted for 45 percent of overall respondents, while Europe was 21 percent and, Australia/Oceania and Asia accounted for 12 percent. The remainder of respondents were from Africa, the Middle East and unspecified locations. Three out of four respondents stated they already had, or intended to deploy IP telephony within the next 12 months. Of these respondents, 67 percent had an initial implementation of less than 500 phones. It is then interesting to note that 66 percent stated they would expand their IP telephony deployment to over 1,000 phones within the next 24 months. A simple conclusion can be drawn from these results that a phased implementation is the preferred integration approach for IP telephony.

Large companies seek a phased migration in order to extend the life of their assets, keep existing applications and minimize requirements for LAN and WAN upgrades. However, compared with the 2003 survey, the 2004 results show a trend towards larger scale expansions with a 56 percent increase in phase 2 deployments over 1000 phones. These results show a continuation of trends identified in the 2003 survey. Last year respondents indicated the highest priority business driver for IP telephony was increased value through IP applications (66 percent response), followed by lower infrastructure costs (64 percent). This year 42 percent of those surveyed said they are interested in implementing IP-based videoconferencing, 15 percent have already deployed, 12 percent expect to deploy within one year and 13 percent are testing.

However, the implementation of IP-based video puts pressure on existing converged network infrastructures. Respondents to the 2004 survey indicated that the challenges they expect to face when integrating video services include bandwidth congestion (58 percent of respondents), response time delays (45 percent) and picture quality (41 percent).

About PROGNOSIS for IP Telephony

PROGNOSIS for IP Telephony is a suite of software products specifically designed to address the challenges of IP telephony lifecycle management, including network-readiness assessment, pre-deployment testing and assurance and ongoing 'Day 2' management that includes real-time monitoring and troubleshooting of Cisco CallManager, Cisco Unity and Cisco AVVIV infrastructure.

About Integrated Research Ltd

Since 1988 Integrated Research has been a leading developer of real-time systems and application management solutions for high-availability distributed computing environments based on proven PROGNOSIS architecture. The world's largest bank, telecommunication company, stock exchange, computer hardware manufacture and ISP all rely on Integrated Research solutions - as do customers in over 48 countries. Integrated Research is a publicly listed company with offices in the USA, Europe and Australia and a distribution network spanning more than 60 countries. Information about Integrated Research and its products is available at http://www.ir.com/