Canadian voip provider

Canadian executives are among the most aggressive in planning for new investments in their networks, particularly in the areas of utility computing, wireless and voice over IP, according to a recent survey.

The study, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), based in the U.K., and AT&T, surveyed more than 250 senior-executives around the globe. It found 61 per cent intended to increase their network spending over the next two years, a 21 per cent increase over last year.

Among Canadian executives, more than two-thirds said they planned "significant" or "very significant" increases in their network investments.

According to Andrew Palmer, global director of executive services for EIU, only six per cent of global respondents felt their networks were well-equipped for all the business challenges that lie ahead.

"Complex and inefficient network architectures slow down business and impede the realization of corporate strategies," said Palmer during a teleconference. "Executives have their eye on technology that will help their networks to overcome that challenge."

Ranking high among the challenges identified by senior executives are better network security, reliability and availability levels. Other needs include speed in the delivery of data and information-sharing with outside partners and customers.

VoIP, wireless access and utility computing were high on the list of new investments with more than 40 per cent of respondents anticipating investments in these areas over the next two years.

"These are areas of investment that are effectively the boardroom's answer to the challenges they have identified in the survey," said Palmer.

Utility computing was the focus of the AT&T presentation that accompanied the release of the EIU's findings. The utility model incorporates new automation and virtualization technologies, allowing different companies to share IT resources from a common service provider.

"It is clear customers want to pay for only the capacity they use," said Hossein Eslambolchi, president of AT&T Global Networking Technology Services. "The old business model of installing the computing required to handle only peak loads is becoming fairly obsolete. There is huge computing power out there that we haven't yet tapped on, and we need to think about using the server at the virtual level as compared to the physical level."

Networking environments that have to adjust to prefabricated applications and providers that have to create dedicated networks to support some of their customers will soon be history, said Eslambolchi. "In their place will be networks figuring out how to work with the user."

"In the application-aware network environment the network adapts to the application based on the resource requirement and policy-based parameters that the customer sets," said Eslambolchi.

"The network no longer stops at the router or the PBX or any geographic location. It now goes directly to the user, to the application, PDA (personal digital assistant) device, to the cell phone."