In order to replace traditional telephone systems
IP-based comminications will need to overcome serious security
vulnerabilities such as viruses, worms, denial of service attacks,
eavesdropping and hacking.
Until these issues are resolved IP-based communications products
will struggle against conventional telephony which provides "99.99%
reliability".
The analyst said that several mission-critical media
applications are designed to go over converged IP networks,
therefore the security threats are even more pronounced.
"Since end-users give very little importance to the underlying
network, IP functionalities need to have a quality of service on a
par with or better than what is available over traditional
telephony networks," said Frost & Sullivan in a Technical
Insights report.
"Delay, jitters and the packet loss experienced in a network are
some of the key features that require close attention while
establishing a quality of service," said the analyst.
The report points out, however, that the IP industry is already
trying to address many of the concerns about IP security and
quality of service. It said that the onus is now on suppliers to
educate end users regarding the long-term productivity benefits
from IP deployments that offset the high initial costs.
Functionalities such as click-to-call, desktop push-to-talk,
push-to-talk over cellular, presence, ad-hoc conferencing and
instant messaging are expected to drive the IP industry forward and
revolutionise the way enterprises work in coming years.