SERVICE-LEVEL REPORTING WILL DRIVE QOS IN VOIP NETWORKS.

Service-level reporting (SLR) will help IP telephony (IPT) managers in their quest to fix he quality issues in their networks, according to the latest report published by Light Reading's VoIP Services Insider (www.lightreading.com/entvoip), a subscription research service from TechWeb's Light Reading (www.lightreading.com).

Diagnosis Quality: Service-Level Reporting Delivers provides an in-depth look at the SLR market, including a comparative analysis of solutions. It also examines the vertical market strengths and strategies for various vendors. Additionally, the report examines challenges the market continues to face and trends to expect, as well as a competitive analysis of eight top vendors in the SLR industry.

For a list of companies covered in this report, please see: http://img.lightreading.com/evi/pdf/vsi0509_companies.pdf

"Many IPT managers are turning to SLR to learn as much as possible about the quality issues on their networks," said Denise Culver, research analyst with Light Reading's VoIP Services Insider and author of the report. "One of the overriding goals of SLR is to change the break/fix mentality that many IPT managers have to a mentality of true quality of service (QoS) analytics."

The SLR market will face challenges over the next 12 to 18 months, including a lack of awareness, the reduction of IT staff, potential consolidation, convergence, and educating the market, Culver said. "Worries about the economy continue to top the list of concerns for vendors of SLR solutions," she notes. "Confusion in the SLR marketplace could become an issue because of the prolific nature of some solutions."

Key findings of Diagnosis Quality: Service-Level Reporting Delivers include the following:

-- A top goal of service-level reporting (SLR) is to move away from the break/fix mentality of QoS and delve into deeper QoS analytics -- SLR enables companies to save money and sharpen focus by shedding functions that are not their core competency -- Proactive SLR can reduce customer churn, protecting and increasing revenue through new services -- Government is expected to have more funds for SLR over the next 12 to 18 months, largely due to the economic stimulus plan -- Economic concerns top the list of challenges for SLR vendors over the next 12 to 18 months -- M&A of service providers and enterprises will create a need for more intelligent SLR systems over the next 12 to 18 months