Stratecast Partners Enterprise End-User Survey -- Did You Know?

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- While surveys of enterprise IT decision makers are commonplace, the shortcoming of these efforts is inevitably the failure to provide meaningful and insightful interpretation of the data ... that is, until now.

Stratecast's report entitled "Survey of Enterprise Networking and IT Practices and Plans: Results and Analysis" is the first such report that applies the industry expertise and experience strengths of the world-class Stratecast analyst team in providing actionable insights and conclusions on the data obtained via a dedicated survey of enterprise IT decision makers.

Stratecast presents its view of the implications of the survey for the following types of companies:

--Communications service providers

--Communications network equipment manufacturers (NEMs)

--Enterprises

--IT consulting and outsourcing firms

--Technology investors

A small sampling: Did You Know? ...

--53% of the respondents expect to deploy VoIP services over the next three years.

--51% of the respondents expect to deploy integrated messaging over the next three years.

--47% of the respondents expect to deploy 10 Gigabit Ethernet over the next three years.

--44% of the respondents expect to deploy Layer 3 VPNs over the next three years.

--39% of the respondents expect to deploy desktop videoconferencing over the next three years.

--A recurring theme is the low success rate of the WAN service provider in providing network-related services beyond basic transport.

--Just behind reliability and well ahead of price is where you'll find the relative importance of customer support and service.

--Contrary to popular opinion and as often espoused by Stratecast, the bursting of the telecom bubble did not wipe out all of the CLECs ... those that attempted to create a national footprint too quickly often failed, but surviving CLECs have a combined share of the WAN services market that is 50% larger than the combined share of BellSouth, Qwest, SBC and Verizon.

--Wireless LANs are out of control at many, perhaps most, enterprises -- multiple technologies are deployed with minimal control by the IT organization, and security policies are seldom enforced.

--There is a clear and compelling opportunity for network consultants and service providers to develop a credible security auditing practice.

--So much more.

--By the way, we are willing to give the report to trade/industry press ... see below.

So, what does it all mean for the types of companies cited above? Where are the specific sustainable revenue and/or cost-saving opportunities for these companies?

To answer these questions, you'll have to purchase the report, priced ridiculously low relative to the effort, investment and value at USD $2,500. Please note that purchase of the report includes your receipt of three items: the report in PDF format; the figures, tables and charts in MS Word for ease of copying/pasting into your own documents; and the raw data in Excel. Please reach Matt Kellogg for a detailed table of contents, list of figures and to purchase the report. He can be reached at [e-mail] or USA 530-893-1134.

For members of the trade and industry press: With few limitations and completely at our discretion, Stratecast is willing to give you a copy of the report. If you are interested, please reach Stratecast's co-founder, Mike Galvin, at USA 530-893-1103 or [e-mail].

Published as a component of Stratecast's Enterprise Networking Trends & Opportunities (ENTO) Analysis Service, the report is immediately available. ENTO provides actionable strategic insight on usage trends for LANs and WAN services in the modern enterprise. ENTO examines the technologies that are reshaping enterprise networking, and the opportunities that this evolution presents to equipment vendors, service providers and others.

In launching the ENTO program in 2003, Stratecast stated the following: "Some industry observers have suggested that enterprise networking is becoming a commodity market. We begin this service with a different view -- that the unrelenting demand for productivity improvements in the enterprise, and the potential of networking technology to provide quantum advances in speed, capacity and intelligence, continually force the enterprise network to re-invent itself.

In many respects, this survey report has strongly reaffirmed this original view.

Stratecast Partners, a division of Frost & Sullivan, provides an access-intensive and industry expertise based strategic intelligence solution through which it helps clients achieve their specific objectives. Stratecast delivers actionable insight to its clients, in team-on-team fashion, on the following communications industry fronts: competitive service providers; Tier 1 service providers; new and competitive service types/opportunities; OSS; public network infrastructure convergence; and, enterprise networking trends/opportunities.