Empirix Survey Finds That Two out of Three Enterprise Telecom Pros Are Concerned about Putting a VoIP Phone on Their CEO's Desk

Business Wire, March 7, 2005

BEDFORD, Mass. -- Empirix Inc., a leading provider of integrated test and management solutions for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), contact center and Web environments, announced today the results of a survey conducted at the Internet Telephony Conference & Expo held Feb. 22-25 in Miami, Fla., and the VoiceCon conference held Feb. 7-11 in Orlando, Fla. The survey focused on attendees' plans for deploying VoIP in their organizations, including steps taken or planned for quality assurance. Among the findings:

--VoIP deployment is very active amongst the enterprises represented: 52 percent are already deploying VoIP at some level, 46 percent have plans for deployment, and only two percent have no plans.

--Voice quality and clarity was the number one concern of respondents, at 47 percent.

--32 percent of respondents who planned to deploy VoIP planned no quality assurance steps in their project; yet only three percent of those who had already deployed VoIP actually took no quality assurance steps - indicating that as pilot rollouts begin, the need for more thorough QA is recognized.

--Of those performing pre-deployment quality assurance, the majority reported using only basic network assessments (45 percent) and/or manual testing (41 percent). Automated testing was planned by just 31 percent of respondents.

--Most strikingly, when asked, "Are you concerned about putting a VoIP phone on your CEO's desk?" nearly two out of three (63 percent) answered, "Yes."

"This survey shows that despite a high level of concern about VoIP quality of service, most organizations are not implementing thorough quality assurance practices," said Jeff Fried, CTO for the Enterprise Solutions Group at Empirix. "We found this surprising, since quality assurance solutions could ease their concerns and lead to much smoother VoIP rollouts."

Fried noted that this group of respondents, many of whom regularly attend conferences about next-generation telecom networks, is a sophisticated crowd. "Internet Telephony and VoiceCon attendees are likely to have built a career around telecommunications, and they are generally the leaders in their groups," he said. "This survey indicates that those leaders are concerned about VoIP quality of service, yet many end up addressing quality assurance on the fly, rather than planning for it ahead of time. Testing is still too often an afterthought."

Other key statistics from the survey, which garnered 177 responses:

--Applications (e.g., messaging, call routing and remote/teleworkers) were a more common driver for VoIP deployments than Infrastructure.

--Only five percent of respondents used a broad range of available measures to ensure quality VoIP deployments; most used or planned to use one or two techniques.

--VoIP Security was a key concern, with 25 percent of respondents citing this as their top issue.

--Upgrade procedures and interoperability remain problematic for those deploying VoIP.

Empirix has more than a decade of experience testing VoIP network infrastructures, operational carrier networks and enhanced IP services, and has been the market share leader in those areas for the past three years(1). The company recently launched the industry's first comprehensive solution for ensuring successful deployment of enterprise VoIP infrastructure and applications. The Hammer(R) VoIP Test Solution for Enterprises allows enterprises to reduce risk and speed the rollout of VoIP services and IP telephony applications (such as messaging, speech self-service, conferencing and CTI) by accurately assessing how their infrastructure and applications will perform as a live, enhanced IP service.

Additional Survey Details Available Online

For a copy of the survey questions and more detailed data, more information on Empirix's enterprise VoIP test solutions, or to download a free copy of Empirix's Hammer Call Analyzer, a VoIP diagnostics and troubleshooting solution, visit www.empirix.com/e-voip, call 1-866-EMPIRIX or email info@empirix.com.

About Empirix

Empirix delivers a comprehensive range of testing and monitoring solutions that assure the performance of next-generation networks, contact centers and Web-based applications. Empirix provides products, services and support to thousands of customers worldwide, including Global 2000 enterprises, network equipment manufacturers and service providers. Headquartered in Bedford, Mass., Empirix is a privately held company, with offices throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. For more information visit www.empirix.com or call 1-866-EMPIRIX.

Empirix and Hammer are registered trademarks of Empirix Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

(1)Per Frost & Sullivan research.