A survey of 300 large enterprises across Europe,
published today, has found that 73% of IT directors are still
worried about basic quality and reliability of Voice over IP
(VoIP), despite a strong industry trend towards converging voice
and data traffic onto a single data network.
The research, by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Compuware, found
that half of the large companies surveyed currently have a class of
service (CoS) enabled wide area network (Wan) - which includes
MPLS, IP-VPN or meshed technology. The other half have a
traditional (frame relay or leased line) Wan.
Forty seven percent of the companies with a traditional Wan plan
to migrate to a CoS enabled Wan over the next two years.
The research found that approximately a third (39%) of companies
do not fully prepare for the impact on the network of introducing
new applications such as VoIP.
In addition, 72% of the IT directors surveyed use basic measures
such as monitoring overall network utilisation to check that
applications are working, rather than examining the individual
performance of each application.
Michael Allen, global director of performance solutions at
Compuware, said the concerns over quality and reliability were “not
entirely unexpected”.
“It's like driving a new car before the manufacturer has checked
that all the components are fitted together properly and the safety
checks are completed. Businesses must profile performance prior to
deployment otherwise they have no way of knowing whether there will
be negative side effects due to factors such as network design or
application conflicts,” said Allen.
Analyst firm Frost & Sullivan is one of many predicting that
VoIP will account for around three-quarters of the world’s voice
traffic by next year.
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