This new 206-page report analyses the market for IP VPN services as it

reaches maturity. It profiles and compares 26 providers of IP VPN services

with a focus on the Global, pan-European/European regional, French,

German and UK markets.

The report includes the following:

Who should buy the report?

Key benefits:

customer bases, including up-to-the-minute information on customer

numbers, contracts, product details, etc.

and to formulate action plans

Key conclusions:

are increasingly penetrating medium-sized and smaller businesses

focused on mobility/remote access, IP-based voice and Ethernet

access options, as well as improved on-line management and control

of national depth and international breadth, especially into the

emerging economies of Central/Eastern Europe, China and India

IP VPNs have become part of the mainstream of corporate networking life and are

increasingly becoming so amongst medium-sized and smaller businesses too. They

have become the lifeblood of businesses, carrying not only corporate data, but

increasingly voice and video services too. They are so core to business life that many

service providers have been enhancing their propositions in order to be able to offer

access to end users wherever they are – whether they be in smaller branch offices,

working from home or on the road.

Technologies such as broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) have

enabled expanded reach and mainstream acceptance of IP VPNs, although there still

remain significant customer concerns about security – these are being addressed by a

growing portfolio of security products and associated professional services.

With confidence returning to the telecoms market in general and service providers

increasingly offering similar products and services, there have been two key parallel

market developments – consolidation amongst service providers has seen their

number dwindle, but with those remaining looking more able to survive in the longer

term. At the same time, service providers have been more aggressive in investing in

growth – either for greater depth at a national level by means of acquisition or

network build-out, or at an international level, notably to address the opportunities

offered by emerging markets such as Central and Eastern Europe, and the growing

manufacturing and services bases in China and India.

At the same time as expanding the functionality available and reach of their IP VPN

products, service providers have also been looking to improve customers’ ability to

view and control their services – even to the extent of enabling self-provisioning and

applications management.

The IP VPN market is reaching maturity and, in future, service providers will tend to

compete on their traditional grounds – more established players (at both a global and

national level) will look to offer enhanced functionality, management and reach,

whilst alternative service providers will look to follow in terms of functionality and

reach on as ‘as needed’ basis, while looking to offer better value for money and a

closer, more flexible relationship with the customer.

In the meantime, the trend towards consolidation is set to continue at all levels of the

market – but this should not have the same disruptive impact on customers as it might

have done in the past as service providers are moving to an all-IP environment,

theoretically making integration of networks and portfolios more straightforward.

Business customers of all sizes have already benefited from the inexorable rise of IP

VPNs as the platform of choice for their corporate communications – over the coming

year they are set to be able to connect even more of their people and partners in an

ever wider range of locations at ever faster speeds and, hopefully, in greater security.

IP VPNs have become part of the mainstream of corporate networking life and are

increasingly becoming so amongst medium-sized and smaller businesses too. They

have become the lifeblood of businesses, carrying not only corporate data, but

increasingly voice and video services too. They are so core to business life that many

service providers have been enhancing their propositions in order to be able to offer

access to end users wherever they are – whether they be in smaller branch offices,

working from home or on the road.

Technologies such as broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) have

enabled expanded reach and mainstream acceptance of IP VPNs, although there still

remain significant customer concerns about security – these are being addressed by a

growing portfolio of security products and associated professional services.

With confidence returning to the telecoms market in general and service providers

increasingly offering similar products and services, there have been two key parallel

market developments – consolidation amongst service providers has seen their

number dwindle, but with those remaining looking more able to survive in the longer

term. At the same time, service providers have been more aggressive in investing in

growth – either for greater depth at a national level by means of acquisition or

network build-out, or at an international level, notably to address the opportunities

offered by emerging markets such as Central and Eastern Europe, and the growing

manufacturing and services bases in China and India.

At the same time as expanding the functionality available and reach of their IP VPN

products, service providers have also been looking to improve customers’ ability to

view and control their services – even to the extent of enabling self-provisioning and

applications management.

The IP VPN market is reaching maturity and, in future, service providers will tend to

compete on their traditional grounds – more established players (at both a global and

national level) will look to offer enhanced functionality, management and reach,

whilst alternative service providers will look to follow in terms of functionality and

reach on as ‘as needed’ basis, while looking to offer better value for money and a

closer, more flexible relationship with the customer.

In the meantime, the trend towards consolidation is set to continue at all levels of the

market – but this should not have the same disruptive impact on customers as it might

have done in the past as service providers are moving to an all-IP environment,

theoretically making integration of networks and portfolios more straightforward.

Business customers of all sizes have already benefited from the inexorable rise of IP

VPNs as the platform of choice for their corporate communications – over the coming

year they are set to be able to connect even more of their people and partners in an

ever wider range of locations at ever faster speeds and, hopefully, in greater security.