Three-quarters of IT managers worried about reliability.

Three-quarters of European IT executives are worried about the quality and reliability of voice over IP, new figures show.

Statistics released by Compuware claim that, although companies are interested in the cost savings of VoIP, they still have grave concerns about the reliability of the technology. 

A survey of 300 IT directors from large enterprises across Europe found that over a third of companies do not test the performance of applications such as voice prior to implementation, and cannot anticipate the effect that it will have on the network.

"People might be surprised that quality and reliability is still such a big concern for so many, when VoIP is high on the agenda for most companies," said Michael Allen, global director of performance solutions at Compuware.

"However, when you take a closer look this is not entirely unexpected, as many companies are not taking the appropriate steps prior to VoIP implementation.

"It is like driving a new car before the manufacturer has checked that all the components are fitted together properly and the safety checks are completed. "

Businesses are urged to profile performance prior to deployment to eliminate the possibility of negative side effects from factors such as network design or application conflicts.

Only eight percent of organisations manage and monitor calls at an individual level. Over a third rely on retrospective user feedback, while 29 percent use occasional synthetic testing which simultaneously adds to the load on the network.

The survey also revealed that 72 percent of IT departments take a "sledgehammer" approach to network monitoring, only looking at overall network utilisation rather than examining the individual behaviour and usage of each application.

"With real-time applications such as VoIP coming onto the network, businesses need to change the way they monitor and manage network and application performance," said Allen.

"Companies cannot afford to be reactive any more and simply monitor utilisation. The problem is that many organisations are still using these simplistic techniques and are quite right to be worried about quality and reliability."

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