Internet Protocol (IP)-based networks and wireless broadband are assuming greater strategic importance as organisations look to leverage their IP investments to enable greater productivity, flexibility and collaboration, according to the 2008 Optus IP Index released recently.
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The Index, which is based on a survey of 229 government and corporate organisations, found that almost two thirds (61 per cent) of respondents plan to expand their existing IP network by adding new sites in the next 12 months.
In addition, 68 per cent of respondents anticipate their bandwidth requirements will increase over the coming year. This will be driven by organisations who want to access their corporate applications remotely and video conferencing between sites, among other converged business applications.
Workforce flexibility was one of the key themes of this year’s report, with most enterprises now providing employees’ access to their corporate network from home via broadband (84 per cent) and a range of other access types.
According to the research, wireless broadband is becoming increasingly popular as enterprises see the customer benefit of having an always-connected workforce. Wireless broadband access is expected to grow from 28 per cent today to 40 per cent in the next 12 months.
Voice over IP (VoIP) technology has also experienced a dramatic increase, with 65 per cent of enterprises reporting that they are trialling or have deployed VoIP within their organisations compared to 45 per cent two years ago.
The survey also found that only 16 per cent of those surveyed have no plans to converge their voice and data networks, down from 30 per cent two years ago.
