VOIP Current Usage
As a relatively new technology, VOIP is experiencing phenomenal growth. One of the recent assessments of VOIP usage proved that investment in North America grew from a measly $71 million to a whopping $2 billion in four years. Just last year, a Gartner survey of 300 IT executives revealed that 80% of the companies surveyed are in the process of deploying VOIP technology. It is expected that investment will skyrocket within the next few years.
It stands to reason that companies most familiar with the VOIP technology have the largest deployments. For instance:
- Cisco supports more than 50,000 VOIP clients.
- Nortel Networks maintains 6,000 VOIP users.
Companies outside the telephony and networking arena are more deliberate in implementing the technology, but civil departments (such as the Minnesota Department of Labor) have found significant cost savings through VOIP deployment. The most common VOIP applications among these types of companies include:
- VOIP hardware (IP phones)
- Voice connection between worldwide offices
- Productivity features (such as IP conferencing)
VOIP - The Benefits
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