Enterprises have moved beyond the question of whether or not to adopt converged networks, and are increasingly concentrating on how these new networks can be deployed for competitive advantage. That is the most prominent conclusion of a global survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit for AT&T on the business impact of network convergence.

For most executives in the survey, network convergence is about enabling the delivery of voice, data and video applications over a single IP (internet protocol) network.The survey of 236 executives, which included 77 CEOs, explored the business ramifications of migrating to this new network platform. Sixty percent of companies in the survey will have deployed converged networks across most, if not all, of their organisations by 2008, compared with only 4% that have no plans to adopt IP networks. Some 45% of those surveyed also said that convergence is “important” or “critical” to achieving their strategic IT and business objectives.

These and other findings are presented in a new report called Competing through Convergence, which is available to download now.

Return to full list of White Papers.