When it comes to network traffic, network managers know it's not about how to decrease traffic; it's more about how to ensure bottlenecks are avoided when traffic inevitably continues to grow.

More distributed end users, more advanced applications and more reliance on the network for services delivery, decreasing traffic is not really an option, according to survey results released this week. Network General this week revealed the findings of the network management vendor's poll of some 576 customers. The consensus is that unified communications applications such as VoIP, unified messaging and instant messaging are and will continue to increase network traffic.

According to previous Network World reports, unified communications aim to blend voice, video, instant messaging and conferencing with presence, collaboration, messaging and calendaring. Companies such as Cisco and Microsoft are working on such technologies, and IT managers are already working to ensure the applications deliver ROI.

Network General's survey found that nearly 80% of companies expect the network traffic from communications applications to increase over the next 12 months. In the past three months, three-quarters of the companies polled say, up to 25% of their network traffic consists of unified communications.

In terms of VoIP, nearly 70% of Network General customers polled use voice applications and close to 60% of survey respondents say they consider the application a critical service in their communications network, but just 12% think VoIP is responsible for the additional traffic in their IT environment. And less than 10% of companies reported they don't use a unified communications application in their network.

The growth of such applications could impact network performance, Network General contends, citing the fact that close to 40% of companies have suffered performance problems due to the convergence of communications applications on their IP network. But that fact won't slow the adoption of such services, according to Network General. Instead it will challenge IT managers to find better ways to ensure peak performance for the network and unified communications applications.

"The increasing mobility of the workplace is driving unified communications to a new usage level. Additionally, it is through implementing unified communications – and streamlining business processes to support those communications – that IT managers will be able to help their companies communicate more effectively," said James Messer, director of technical marketing at Network General, in a company press release. "With the growth of unified communications and additional new applications, IT departments are finding that their environments are becoming increasingly complex, as each new service often comes with unique management tools."

Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.