The VoIP surge

Planning to replace or upgrade your corporate phone system this year? If so, the odds are good that you’ll choose VoIP (voice over IP) technology.

A recent InfoWorld survey suggests that although IP-based PBXs remain in the minority — they were in use at only 34 percent of the companies polled — they are more than twice as likely than conventional PBXs to be picked for an upcoming telephone expansion.

And though lower cost is often a reason for choosing phone equipment, it is not the primary driver. In our survey, the top two factors influencing purchase were technical in nature: “equipment reliability” (cited as critical by 99 percent of those surveyed) and “product performance” (cited by 96 percent).

Those data points come from the InfoWorld Research Report on Telephony, the latest in our series of reports on significant technology topics.

For the study, we used our subscriber data — the information from those lengthy and annoying forms we must ask you to fill out yearly — to identify people who purchase enterprise phone systems. We then collected information from nearly 500 of them on their telephone choices and plans.

The most striking finding was the rapid growth of IP telephony. Some 45 percent of those surveyed reported plans to make new or additional IP PBX purchases in 2004 versus only 18 percent who planned traditional PBXs.

The same disproportion prevailed among those using hosted services, such as IP Centrex. There, an IP solution was the choice of 23 percent of respondents as compared to only seven percent who planned to add traditional Centrex service this year.

The IP telephony report, like others in this series, was prepared by our research team in association with IDG Research Services (IDG is our parent company). Earlier studies this year focused on storage and enterprise applications. Others now in the works address programming, security, open source, and more.

The research reports help form the basis of InfoWorld articles, such as this week’s cover story “VoIP: The promise and the pain.” Author Leon Erlanger explores the opportunities and pitfalls of telephony installations, while noting how to get the most from your new and existing network gear in the change.

The telephony study also helped form the basis for a new report from our sister company IDC. Its analysts combined our data with their own Enterprise Networks Survey to produce “Key Trends in Enterprise VoIP: Survey Shows Strong Near-Term Growth,” which can be bought by calling (508) 872-8200.

We’re proud of the InfoWorld research series and welcome your suggestions for making it an even more useful tool for planning major technology purchases.