"Our forecasts show a continued steady uptake of VoIP over the next few years, with adoption following a relatively straight line, not an S-shaped curve typically seen in the adoption of emerging technologies," said Matthias Machowinski, a directing analyst with Infonetics and the study's author.

For the past three years, Infonetics has conducted VoIP adoption surveys, according to the report, and each year the trend becomes more clear: The number of small, midsized and large companies planning to deploy or evaluate VoIP is steadily on the rise. The study also found that companies are becoming more aware of VoIP products and services.

"While awareness doesn't necessarily translate into deployments, it is one of the first obstacles any new technology must overcome," the study says.

((Content component not found.)) In what Infonetics called the "ultimate show of confidence" in VoIP, the study also found that there is an aggressive move from TDM to VoIP. In many cases, companies are phasing out their legacy TDM PBXs in favor of an all-VoIP system.

The study results are based on in-depth interviews with 240 small, midsized and large companies that use VoIP products or services now or will do so by next year. Infonetics also conducted 450 shorter interviews to determine VoIP adoption rates, and 150 exit interviews to determine why organizations are not deploying VoIP. Most of the respondents use in-house VoIP, according to the study, but some use managed VoIP services or some combination of both.

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