VoIP News: August 2007

New reports suggest that VoIP peering is on track to experience rapid growth in the coming future, according to J Arnold & Associates. Research carried out by the group argues that many carriers are beginning to realise the full suite of benefits afforded by VoIP peering, with some peering all of their traffic. The study found that on average, firms peer less than a quarter of their traffic using VoIP but is speculated that this is due for significant growth ahead.

Some two thirds of IT firms decide to outsource a proportion of their network management in order to avoid the risks associated with internal management, according to new research. Forrester Research reports that 60 per cent of companies choose to outsource major parts of network management, including storage, security, databases and applications for example. It was also found that the appeal of outsourcing is strongest in key areas such as remote monitoring and management, internet protocol telephony (VoIP), telecoms management and managed mobility, according to David Wills of Gartner.

A growing number of businesses are set to invest in unified communications technology according to new reports. Research from Datamonitor for Dimension Data reveals that more than half of all IT managers and users throughout the world consider unified communications to be a maturing technology enjoying strong positive growth and expect it to become commonplace in the future. It is thought that investment the technology is on track to grow significantly in the coming years as more firms look to exploit the emerging technology.

Broadband connections now link up more than half of British homes as competition in the sector lowers prices, according to industry regulator Ofcom. In the broadband watchdog's survey of the current state of communications in the UK, it found that average connection speeds doubled during 2006 and have continued to improve this year. Figures for June 2007 show the average UK user now receives a speed of 4.

IBM is hoping to create a splash in the IP private branch exchange (PBX) market using its Sametime unified communications (UC) client. UC provides the ability for users to have voice calls, text or e-mails redirected to the device closest to them in real-time via PBX, which would allow far greater freedom in business. Now Big Blue, as IBM is nicknamed, is attempting to launch its own UC system and has teamed up with Siemens to set up a system that can cope with IP PBX systems from multiple providers.