ORLANDO, Fla. – Mobility and flexibility in communications are driving the increasing enterprise convergence of multiple voice and data networks into one based on Internet protocol (IP) technologies, says a survey released today by Nortel Networks.
The survey of 300 members of the International Nortel Networks User Association (INNUA), indicated that 85% of respondents have already started to converge or have plans to converge their voice and data networks within the next five years, while 46% have fully deployed or are in the process of deploying a converged network. This is a six-point increase over last year’s survey. As well, 64% of survey respondents indicated that the greatest benefits of convergence are mobility and flexibility for employees.
"Mobility powers creativity and productivity in a wide variety of ways, such as providing opportunities for employees to sharpen skills through distance learning programs or allowing employees to work from remote locations, staying connected with customers, partners and suppliers, which may help improve profitability," said Malcolm Collins, president, Enterprise Networks, Nortel.
"The continued move to a converged voice, data and video network mirrors what we’re seeing in the industry as a whole," said Steve Taylor, president, Webtorials, the company which verified the survey’s results. "It’s also noteworthy that the percentage of respondents that don’t have any plans to converge dropped by about a quarter – from 21% a year ago to only 15% this year."
Additional benefits of convergence confirmed by survey respondents include the ability to deploy new multimedia applications and the reduction of network costs. According to respondents, critical value-added applications that are deployed or will be deployed include unified messaging, multimedia collaboration, video communication and contact centers.
The survey also asked if convergence requires changes in the management structure and whether respondents are going to deploy wireless local area networks (LANs). A majority of the respondents (74%) plan to have a combination of telecommunications and data networking staff primarily responsible for management of the converged network. The survey also showed that a majority of respondents currently use or are planning to deploy wireless LANs (72%). This represents a seven percent increase over 2004, while the planned use of voice over wireless LAN doubled from last year.
