According to a just released report from In-Stat/MDR, titled Business VoIP: An End-User’s Perspective, 2004, VoIP has made great strides among U.S. businesses as the percentage of companies using the technology grew from 3% to 12% over the past 12 months.

The research firm found that much higher rates of penetration are found within the larger business segments, forecasting that middle market VoIP penetration will be at 34% by year’s end, and at 43% in the large business segment.

The report examines current and future deployment plans for VoIP, covering such diverse topics as type of deployment (IP PBX or IP Centrex), service provider selection criteria, and vendor and service provider preferences. This report also contains forecasts by size of business for the number of firms that will use VoIP.

“There are many different ways that businesses are migrating to VoIP,” says In-Stat/MDR analyst Daryl Schoolar. “Each installation requires a certain amount of customization. For service providers this requires a more consultative customer approach than what they are used to with their traditional services.”

In-Stat/MDR's research also found that:
• Most firms will be using a mixture of voice communication services and technologies, not VoIP exclusively.
• Although large and medium-sized firms are the early adopters, vendors should not neglect smaller firms and should develop tailored solutions for them.
• Businesses currently show a preference for VoIP deployment to have some LAN-based element, such as an IP PBX, as opposed to a totally outsourced solution, such as IP Centrex. However, this preference seems to be diminishing for businesses that are planning to deploy VoIP.