Bandwidth/Connectivity : A Survey

The crucial links that connect the blocks which build an enterprise or hook it to the Internet are still leased lines for the greater part. VPNs are being snapped up by Indian businesses for inter-office connectivity, and these are the next most popular options. Apparently, there is never a case of too much since more than two-thirds (68 percent) of respondents believe that they will require more bandwidth during 2005-06. The percentage of organisations investing in bandwidth and connectivity during this fiscal (71 percent) is less than that of the previous year (79 percent).

The IS 2005 figures show that 90 percent of Indian organisations have already made bandwidth and connectivity investments in the past. Therefore, the focus now is more on upgrading and maintaining existing bandwidth and connectivity. Because most existing locations are already connected, investments in new links are largely limited to new or hitherto unconnected locations. The demand for more bandwidth can be attributed to increased business growth across verticals. Next come the reduction in bandwidth tariffs. Enterprise wide applications churn out ever-increasing amounts of data that has to be carried across overburdened networks.

Bigger pipes : Understandably, the telecom sector leads the race with all surveyed organisations expecting to consume more bandwidth this fiscal. The BPO and services verticals follow with 92 percent and 77 percent of organisa-tions foreseeing increased bandwidth requirements in this fiscal. Of these organisations, 20 percent expect a jump of 1.6 to 2 times in 2005-06. Another 20 percent expect an increase in bandwidth usage by 1.1 to 1.5 times.

Means of Net connectivity : More than 70 percent of organisations have invested in leased lines. ISDN comes next with 50 percent followed by DSL at 32 percent. BPO is the biggest user of leased lines for Internet connectivity with 96 percent using it. 83 percent of telecom organisations use leased lines followed by 77 percent in services. Pharmaceuticals/chemicals happens to be the biggest user of ISDN with 61 percent having opted for it. DSL penetration is highest in the services sector with 45 percent of organisations having invested in it.

Auto and auto components follows with 39 percent favouring DSL. 54 percent of organisations that have or plan to invest in bandwidth are going to opt for leased lines. ISDN follows with 27 percent and DSL comes third with 22 percent. Telecom leads with the entire vertical having leased lines on their minds. Second in line is BPO with 88 percent. Then comes auto and auto components with 66 percent.