U.S. Businesses Show High Interest in Converged Voice Services to Improve Efficiency, Productivity and Cost Savings

APRIL 05, 2006 - Lucent Technologies survey indicates vast majority of enterprise decision makers intend to deploy services that encompass cellular, WiFi and office-based telephony.

LAS VEGAS – The overwhelming majority of U.S. business leaders and Information Technology (IT) decision-makers who participated in a survey intend to deploy converged voice services in their company or government enterprise, according to Lucent Technologies primary market research. The company today announced results of the research here at the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) Wireless 2006 show.

Of the 1,862 survey participants nationwide, 96 percent of IT decision makers and 85 percent of line of business decision makers said they would deploy one or more of the solutions proposed to them. IT decision makers expect, on average, to deploy these solutions to 49 percent of the employees in their company, validating the strong demand and purchase interest in converged voice services.

The Lucent on-line survey determined the interest of the enterprise decision-makers and end-users in purchasing services as well as their willingness to pay for three types of converged voice services - Mobile Extension, Cellular WiFi Integration and Cellular WiFi Extension. The survey sample included government and private enterprises of all business sizes.

The research indicated a high willingness to pay by IT decision-makers. Survey respondents showed expectations of significant productivity improvement in terms of work time saved for employees. Nearly a third of the respondents also expect that the solutions will allow their employees to bring in more revenue to their enterprises. Using these results and Bell Labs business case modeling and analysis, Lucent estimated that these specific solutions potentially could produce a cumulative $4.7 billion in service provider revenue from 2006 through 2010. The revenue projections are based on a conservative approach that factored in the expected impact of competition on price after introduction (based on historical trends). The research identified early adopter and long-term revenue generating enterprise segments for each solution. Respondents also identified key feature requirements for each solution.

"The research showed that businesses see the potential for converged enterprise voice solutions to address the three top communications issues identified by corporate decision makers; namely cellular phone coverage, wasted time due to telephone tag, and the costs of adds, moves and changes," said John Marinho, corporate strategic marketing vice president, Lucent Technologies. "The cost of adds, moves and changes can be reduced by using a single mobile converged voice communications handset that can be used both at the desk and when the employee is mobile. This mobile solution eliminates the need to move or change office phones when the employee changes locations."

IT decision-makers indicated their willingness to replace the desk phone for a significant percentage of their employees. The research identified Wireless LAN as one of the top items targeted for expansion in the next 12 months (along with VoIP) with a high percentage of these WLANs being voice capable, indicating market readiness for converged voice solutions.

The survey, completed late last year, is the latest in a series of Lucent primary market research studies that are helping the company and its service provider customers understand and evaluate the market for the converged services that can be enabled by an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based network.

"As part of the Lucent Market Advantage Program, we are sharing detailed results of the research with our customers to help them develop go-to-market strategies and to tailor their service introductions for specific markets and end-user segments," said John Leonard, solution management and strategy vice president, Lucent Technologies' Network Solutions Group.

Lucent has developed the Converged Voice for Enterprise Solution that offers all three choices to carriers under the following names -- Mobile Extension, Cellular WiFi Integration and Cellular WiFi Extension.

Survey Offers
Mobile Extension -- cell phone acts as an extension to office desk phone and offers access to the same features that are available on the office desk phone.
Cellular WiFi Integration -- a new dual-mode Cellular/WiFi phone that works, as well as or better, in office/buildings as it does outside and calls continue uninterrupted with the same cellular features in both environments.
Cellular WiFi Extension -- a new dual-mode Cellular/WiFi phone acts as an extension of office desk phone in office/building and outside and offers access to the same features that are available on the office desk phone. Among the features tested were: single telephone number for cell phone and desk phone or for dual-mode phone and desk phone, simultaneous ringing on both phones and one voice mailbox for both phones.
The survey results are in no way a predictor of Lucent's future performance, and are meant only to identify potential market opportunities and estimates for the communications industry at large.

Source : Lucent Technologies