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EQUS Group Study: Enterprises Approaching VoIP with Caution

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FEATURE ARTICLE

October 30, 2006

EQUS Group Study: Enterprises Approaching VoIP with Caution

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Associate Editor



Voice over IP telephony, or VoIP, offers many potential benefits to companies large and small. Sending voice over computer networks as data packets can significantly cut costs, and also offers the potential to integrate data-based communications with voice applications (think unified messaging).
 
But, VoIP is still a relatively new and unproven technology. As such, companies—especially large ones—are eyeing next generation telephony with caution. At least, that’s what EQUS Group, a technology industry research firm based in Silicon Valley, found in its latest public study, Corporate IT Outlook 2007.
 
The study included general survey data collected online, and in-depth interviews with IT managers, directors and CIOs, mostly from large enterprises with between 2,200 and 55,000 employees. EQUS Group asked respondents to look ahead toward 2007 and indicate what IT topics are most on their mind for the coming year.
 
Specifically, EQUS addressed four broad topics: security and privacy, corporate IT budget outlook for the coming year, 64-bit hardware and software adoption, and migration to software as a service.
 
When EQUS Group crunched the data from its study, it found respondents indicating that, while VoIP may be appealing, the value proposition associated with it isn’t strong enough to displace other IT projects planned for 2007.
 
More than 50 percent of respondents indicated that, for 2007, money to fund early-stage VoIP initiatives (such as pilot projects) has been allocated, but only ten percent said they plan to begin executing large-scale VoIP rollouts next year.
 
“Although VoIP was mentioned as interesting by some respondents, there does not appear to be a strong trend toward adoption at this time,” EQUS said in its study. “IT departments indicate an independent need to expand their network bandwidth, which in some cases led to concern about the impact of VoIP.”
 
Dana Good, Senior Technical Analyst at EQUS Group, told TMCnet that respondents seemed most concerned about two aspects of VoIP: cost and reliability. Most respondents, Good said, indicated that VoIP is still too expensive and unreliable for their companies to consider a large-scale migration.
 
“The other big issue is that there is no clear ROI because of the infrastructure changes needed,” Good told TMCnet.
 
Part of the infrastructure issue involves the debate between hardware and software-based VoIP systems. Good said that, while many smaller companies are experimenting with software-based VoIP systems, larger enterprises want a hardware solution yet say the technology involved is not yet proven.
 
“There’s a lot of skepticism over unproven technology,” Good said.
 
She added that some respondents also mentioned they’re waiting for IPv6 to become sorted out before they jump on board, because the newer version offers better support for voice.
 
For those not familiar with it, Wikipedia describes IPv6 as “a network layer IP standard used by electronic devices to exchange data across a packet-switched internetwork. It follows IPv4 as the second version of the Internet Protocol to be formally adopted for general use.”
 
IPv6, Wikipedia says, still accounts for a very small percentage of live addresses on the publicly accessible Internet, where IPv4 still rules.
 
EQUS Group’s study may seem to be at odds with other VoIP-related research, but Good said that’s partially explained by the fact that a lot of research is done with the client in mind.
 
“That's why we went after this independently,” she said.
 
Related Articles
  • Deloitte: Multi-Site SMBs Seek More Appropriate VoIP Solutions
  • Telephony Joins the Ranks of a Broader Enterprise Application Portfolio
  • Minacom Study Reveals the VoIP Call Quality on Steady Increase
  • Study Shows Steady Erosion of VoIP Call Quality
  • Can You VoIP Me Now?
 
Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page. Also check out her Wireless Mobility blog.



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