Abstract

This previously-licensed material was released by Tolly in 2025 for general use for historical reasons. 

This is a comprehensive 2003/2004 Enterprise Network Architect VoIP User Requirements Study conducted by The Tolly Group, based on interviews with network architects at Fortune 500 companies, universities, and government agencies.

Key Findings

Market Readiness & Spending

• VoIP adoption was accelerating compared to the previous year, with users becoming more comfortable with deployment
• Average VoIP spending was $700,000 in 2003, projected to increase to $904,000 in 2004
• 50% of respondents planned to prototype VoIP soon, 39% already had it in production mode, and 11% had completed installations
• 73% of VoIP projects came in on budget or under budget

Primary Deployment Drivers

• 51% cited savings from merging voice and data onto single infrastructure
• Combined with toll savings, 73% were implementing VoIP for cost-related reasons
• Only 23% cited "next-generation converged applications" as a driver

Technical Preferences

• Quality of Service (QoS): 94% considered QoS either necessary or critical for VoIP deployment
• Voice Quality: 76% required G.711 vocoders, though 59% saw a role for G.729
• Signaling Protocols: 70% planned to support H.323, 59% favored SIP
• Wireless: 56% planned to deploy VoIP over wireless LAN (802.11) services

Implementation Strategy

• 55% planned VoIP deployment in Greenfield (new) sites only
• 54% preferred single-vendor networks over multi-vendor (46%)
• 51% planned a mix of hardware and software phones

Major Barriers

• 35% cited costs/insufficient ROI as the primary barrier
• 20% identified implementation complexity as the second barrier
• Users needed better demonstration of business benefits and ROI

Top Vendors

• VoIP Equipment: Cisco (dominant #1), followed by Avaya and Nortel Networks
• IP Phones: Same ranking - Cisco, Avaya, and Nortel Networks

Network Infrastructure

• 80% conducted network assessments before VoIP deployment
• 98% considered network latency and jitter impact
• QoS deployment planned across WAN devices (70%), LAN switches (57%), network core (56%), and edge (52%)

The study revealed that enterprise VoIP adoption was gaining momentum in 2003-2004, driven primarily by cost savings rather than advanced features, with Quality of Service being recognized as crucial for successful implementation.