IP telephony is growing rapidly worldwide, in large part due to the adoption of IP-based videoconferencing by multinationals, according to a recent global survey conducted by Australian developer Integrated Research.

Seventy five percent of more than 15,000 IT executives surveyed by the firm worldwide said that they already had, or intended to, deploy IP telephony within the next 12 months. Sixty seven percent of those who have deployed it or will deploy it will have an initial implementation of less than 500 phones. Additionally, 66 percent of those who have deployed it or will deploy it said they would expand their deployment to over 1,000 phones within the next 24 months.

Survey results show a continuation of IP telephony trends identified in the firm''s 2003 survey. Last year, the highest priority business driver for IP telephony was increased value through IP applications (66 percent), followed by lower infrastructure costs (64 percent). This year, 42 percent of those surveyed said they are interested in implementing IP-based videoconferencing

Respondents to the survey said that the challenges they expect to face when integrating video services include bandwidth congestion (58 percent of respondents), response time delays (45 percent) and picture quality (41 percent).

"The trend is clear; enterprises are moving from trial to full production deployments of IP telephony as their existing PBXs approach the end of their contract lives," Kailem Anderson, Product Manager, IP telephony products for Integrated Research, said in a statement. "Other key factors driving IP telephony sales are the reduction of operating costs achievable through the deployment of applications such as IP-based videoconferencing and a perception that IP telephony has come of age and is now lower risk."