After years of much hype but little action, more European enterprises are now deploying voice over IP (VoIP) in their corporate networks, or planning to do so in the near future. In IDC’s European WAN Manager Survey, 2003, a survey of 625 companies in 10 European countries, 12 per cent of respondents reported that they integrate their voice and data traffic now, and an additional 33 per cent plan to integrate it in the next two years. Furthermore, usage of IP PBXs has increased since the 2002 survey when 7.2 per cent of respondents used a pure IP PBX while 7.8 per cent used a hybrid IP PBX.
The availability of cheaper bandwidth in local access connections, due to broadband rollout and declines in leased line prices, is one of the key drivers of European WAN managers’ interest in new applications such as VoIP. Growth in the deployment of IP VPNs is also a major contributor: 53 per cent of companies surveyed stated they used an IP VPN service, up from 30 per cent the previous year.
More respondents are aware of newer services such as metro Ethernet, broadband access, wireless LAN, and desktop-based videoconferencing, and are using them or expressing plans to do so in the future.
At the same time, more companies are looking to outsource WAN functions, such as IP VPN management, voice/data integration, and equipment management. Cost control and reduction are not as important to survey respondents as they were in the 2002 survey.
Companies appear to be more concerned with improving WAN performance quality and security while at the same time maintaining sufficient control of their network, and cite cost as a reason for not using a new service less frequently than they did one year ago.
2003-11-07
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