Security still a major barrier to converged IP network

The survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit of 236 senior executives from 50 countries found that security was a much bigger concern than the cost of implementing a converged network within their organizations.

The survey also found that 63 percent of respondents felt their organizations were most vulnerable to security breaches from processing customer data online. Viruses and worms topped the poll with 89 percent of executives thinking these were the main security threat today. But most respondents see such threats decreasing within the next two years as organizations become more confident in dealing with these dangers.

"There's a increasing level of confidence within senior management that companies can handle threats from worms and viruses," said Denis McCauley, Global Technology Research director at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

McCauley said the amount of IT budget spent on security had risen steadily over the last two years and accounted for 14 percent of the total, up from 11 percent in 2003, but he added this is starting to level off.

"After a few years of catching up and emergency spending, companies seem to have reached a level of spending on security they feel comfortable with," said McCauley.

www.eiu.com