Industry News
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Businesses 'failing to secure VoIP'
Date: 25 Mar 2008
Despite the fact that Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions are quickly becoming a staple part of the business environment, new research suggests that many companies have not yet taken action to increase the security of these communication systems.
Research company In-Stat found that a large number of companies have done nothing extra to secure their VoIP, even though the infrastructure behind this technology is now being applied beyond the local area network (LAN) by many companies to their other sites around the world.
As a sample of the rest of the global communications market, the snapshot of the state of VoIP in the US revealed that over 40 per cent of companies have no specific plans in place for securing their deployments, despite the fact that most have budgets for this purpose.
"No mechanisms for securing VoIP had more than 50% penetration across all sizes of business," warned Victoria Fodale, In-Stat analyst. "Proactive measures, including periodic security audits and pre-deployment assessments had low percentages of penetration too, even among the larger organizations."
In-Stat also revealed that four fifths of the surveyed businesses have deployed some degree of VoIP functionality within their companies.
© Adfero Ltd
Wi-Fi hotpsots will be phased out
Date: 11 Mar 2008
The popularity of Wi-Fi hotspots is set to dwindle as mobile internet services improve.
Johan Bergendahl, chief marketing officer of Ericsson, believes that faster connections via mobile devices will significantly lessen business and consumer need for Wi-Fi availability in public spaces.
Speaking at the European Computer Audit, Control and Security Conference in Stockholm, he commented: "In Austria they are saying that mobile broadband will pass fixed broadband this year. It's already growing faster and in Sweden the most popular phone is a USB modem.
"Hotspots at places like Starbucks are becoming the telephone boxes of the broadband era."
However, Bergendahl said that the increased use of the internet via mobile devices will be dependent on issues such as network coverage and roaming charges.
"Industry will have to solve the international roaming issue. Carriers need to work together. It can be as simple as paying €10 (£7.60) per day when you are abroad."
© Adfero Ltd
Mobile broadband to overtake fixed line by 2010
Date: 06 Mar 2008
Uptake of mobile broadband connections among businesses and consumers is accelerating at such as rate that it could overtake the popularity of fixed line connections within two years, it has been claimed.
According to broadband comparison website Top 10 Broadband, sales of mobile broadband have increased by more than 50 per cent month-on-month steadily for the last six months.
The company explained that, if the technology's current rate of adoption were to be sustained, mobile broadband would be more popular than fixed line by the end of 2010.
The comparison service highlighted flexibility as the key advantage of mobile broadband over wireless internet, Computer Weekly reports. While Wi-Fi users are limited to public hotspots, mobile broadband users are truly able to roam, making it incredibly attractive to business travellers.
Meanwhile, a new study from internet research company ComScore has revealed that mobile broadband use increased by 154 per cent in the United States during 2007.
© Adfero Ltd
UK firms adopting IP telephony
Date: 28 Feb 2008
Enterprises across the UK are taking up Voice over IP (VoIP) services, but have yet to grasp a full understanding of the benefits that unified communications (UC) can deliver, a new survey has revealed.
Questioning senior IT managers at 100 top UK firms, communications firm TeleWare found that almost 80 per cent of firms now have a clear VoIP strategy, and have already deployed, or in the process of evaluating deployment.
However, only 16 per cent have integrated voice with other data applications and only five per cent have implemented a unified voice and data communications system, despite the fact that UC can slash communication costs through converged networks.
"The move to VoIP for many organisations is almost taken for granted now," said Lesley Hansen, group marketing director for TeleWare. "The challenge now is building the next layer of useful services on top of the converged data and voice network and the survey seems to highlight the struggle UK organisations are having with the idea of unified communications."
One barrier identified to the adoption of UC was the fact that 64 per cent of companies were found to be using two or more telephony suppliers, with many considering it difficult to consolidate to a single supplier.
© Adfero Ltd
SMBs to emphasise SaaS and managed IT services
Date: 19 Feb 2008
Plotting its top IT predictions for the global small and medium sized business (SMB) market, research firm Access Markets International Partners (AMI-Partners) has suggested that technology in the sector will come to be dominated by software-as-a-service (SaaS) and managed services.
The analyst noted that growing supply-side trend to offer SMBs with remote services would decrease channel partner risk cost while increasing their ability to provide more clients with IT services.
The research indicated that companies offering SMBs managed IT services reported an average profit margin of 44 per cent, double that of those made from product-based reselling.
It also predicted that telecoms companies and broadband internet service providers (ISPs) would increasingly look to leverage SaaS solutions as a way to increase their revenue. AMI-Partners explained that SaaS allow vendors to act as a "virtual CIO" (chief information officer) for smaller companies, serving all of their technology related needs.
Among the company's other predictions, it was suggested that the evolution of mobile devices to open platforms in 2008 would push unified communications to the top of the agenda at many SMBs as they look to pursue new mobility-based business models.
It was also predicted that SMBs would follow the example of larger enterprises and look to tap into the social networking environment to grow their business and expand their potential customer base.
© Adfero Ltd
