As Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) becomes a standard communications system for the global enterprise, industry experts are actually seeing extensive delays around proof-of-concept deployments converting to production. To help determine the causes of this hesitation, NetIQ, an Attachmate business, conducted a survey to measure customers’ adoption of VoIP, attitudes toward initial deployment and sentiments around ongoing management of enterprise VoIP implementations.
Comprising feedback from over 240 VoIP practitioners predominantly located in North America, the representative sample demonstrates a strong focus on the value of assessment and planning prior to deployment. The results, however, indicate that a high number of VoIP implementations exclude monitoring and management tools designed to monitor Quality of Service (QoS) – the very tools required to meet the sample’s desired system performance objectives.
Specifically, 46% of the respondents noted they are not considering any type of management or monitoring solution around the initial VoIP deployments, while a staggering 90% stated that the performance and availability is their top concern. This disparity indicates that while system performance is a priority, a rather large percentage of enterprises are not taking enough action to meet their stated objective. Ultimately, call quality and voice network issues will be more difficult to identify and resolve without adequate monitoring and management tools.
“VoIP and VoIP applications have the potential to offer tremendous cost savings as well as increased user productivity, but must be closely managed in order to address the challenges that are associated with converged networks,” commented Criss Scruggs, senior manager of Product Marketing at NetIQ. “It’s encouraging that enterprises see value in initial network assessments and pilot programs, however, to achieve maximum value of VoIP investments as well as consistent, reliable service delivery, a more holistic approach to the entire VoIP lifecycle needs to be taken. Our recommendation is that current and future VoIP projects include a monitoring and management solution to meet the performance and quality demands of the end user.”
Additional findings and concerns include the following:
Approximately 57% of those surveyed cited the pre-deployment planning and assessment phase of a VoIP deployment as the most critical aspect of their implementation.
58% of participants stated that achieving the defined service level is one of their top three concerns.
A close 57% of respondents noted that secure configuration and provisioning is also one of the top three concerns.
64% of survey participants noted that Denial of Service (DoS) attacks are the greatest threats, while viruses, worms and call spoofing are also placed among threats of highest priority.
About NetIQ Solutions for VoIP Lifecycle Management
NetIQ offers the only comprehensive portfolio for the VoIP management lifecycle – Assess, Alert, Troubleshoot and Report. Combined, NetIQ® AppManager® for VoIP, Vivinet® Assessor, Vivinet Diagnostics, Analysis Center™ and VoIP Security Solution allow organizations to effectively implement VoIP, monitor performance as well as manage and report on call quality to meet internal service level objectives and ensure the delivery of first-rate QoE for end users.
About NetIQ
NetIQ, an Attachmate business, is a leading provider of comprehensive systems and security management solutions that help enterprises maximize IT service delivery and efficiency. With more than 12,000 customers worldwide, NetIQ solutions yield measurable business value and results that dynamic organizations demand. NetIQ's best-of-breed solutions help IT organizations deliver critical business services, mitigate operational risk, and document policy compliance. The company's portfolio of award-winning management solutions includes IT Process Automation, Systems Management, Security Management, Configuration Control and Enterprise Administration. For more information, please visit www.netiq.com.