Next week, in conjunction with the Global Connect 2008 conference in Dallas, a study conducted by Webtorials' Editorial/Analyst Division on Enterprise adoption of Unified Communications will be released. The study consists of survey responses from about 800 users, all of whom were members of Nortel's user groups.

The study concentrates on the rapid movement by mainstream enterprises to a unified communications environment. However, from the WAN perspective, a striking revelation was found: In spite of all of the network upgrades that have already been performed, fewer than 20% of the respondents felt that no changes would be needed for their network.

The users were asked, “Will you change the way you design your data network in order to support unified communications applications such as VoIP, video and real-time collaboration?” - 9% responded that this had not yet been considered, which we see as being a good sign in that the vast majority are considering the network infrastructure. In looking at overall respondents, 17% indicated that “no changes were necessary,” with this number increasing to 19%, if those who had not considered the impact are excluded.

Again, ignoring those who had not considered the network infrastructure, almost two-thirds (61%) indicated that they would likely make some changes, and 20% indicated a more drastic view that, “We will need to re-think how our data network is designed.”

This level of integration and planning with the “network team” and the “application team” is a great sign of progress in crossing traditional boundaries within organizations, and the early consideration of network impact will surely lead to more successful deployments.

A sneak preview of the full report, "Unified Communications Pervades the Enterprise," is available only for readers of this newsletter by clicking here.

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Jim Metzler is vice president of Ashton, Metzler & Associates.