Steven Taylor

Although those of us involved in telecom spending think we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, lack of budget, to no one's surprise, remains the primary impediment to moving forward with voice-over-IP implementations, according to Webtorials' just-released 2003 VoIP State of the Market Report (available for download at www.webtorials.com).

The worldwide information infrastructure is growing and improving by leaps and bounds, while our ability to support this infrastructure is crumbling around us. That's because budgets for professional development - training - have been cut to the point where many professionals must learn about technologies on their own, with no corporate support.

Security is a tough issue. It's a lot safer and more convenient not to do something than to move forward if there is a security issue that can come back to haunt you. Consequently, security has recently become one of the major reasons given for delaying the implementation of VoIP, says one columnist.

With 20-plus years in the industry, I long ago stopped counting the number of seminars in which I've taken part.

The decision to move to voice over IP isn't a "no-brainer" where you see a dramatic decrease in costs with a return on investment of 100 per cent in the first year, says a columnist. Instead, voice over IP is a "brainer." It's a sophisticated decision that involves the entire IT infrastructure.

The final touches are being put on the Network World Voice over IP seminar that will hit six major U.S. cities later this month and in April. In doing so, the key issues the seminar should discuss have been focused on. They boil down to three major areas: quality of service (QoS), the business case and enhanced applications.