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Don’t Overspend, Gartner Says
By Mark Evans | October 23, 2006
In news that can’t be music to the ears of telecom equipment vendors such as Nortel, Gartner said $100-billion will be wasted on network services and products over the next five years. According to ComputerWorld, Gartner analysts Mark Fabbi said network executives should focus on spending plans to meet their needs over the next two years because rather than buy more than they need. He said, for example, WAN optimization tools should be implemented to make network traffic more efficient rather than purchase more bandwidth - which goes contrary to statements made last year by Nortel CTO John Roese, who argued the growth of Internet traffic through services such as video will see a boom in capacity. Fabbi contends WAN optimisation tools can reduce traffic by 6% to 80%, offsetting a 35% growth in bandwidth needs. His colleague, Bob Hafner, poured fuel on the fire by arguing that companies should avoid spending money on such things as IP phones with large display screens. Instead, he said they should purchase less expensive phones, and use the $150 to $350 savings on unified communication services to make employees more productive. He’s also big on soft phones (software) rather than expensive desk phones. While equipment makers will no doubt be taken aback by the Gartner view of the world, Andy Abramson believes there is a lot of positive news for Web 2.0 service providers such as Skype, PhoneGnome and iotum that leverage high-speed networks. Meanwhile, GigaOm believes there will be a resurgence in video conferencing next year, highlighted by Microsoft’s release of a product called RoundTable.
Topics: Analyst Coverage, Blogs |