Independent research commissioned in the UK by 3Com has revealed that two-thirds (65%) of board level representatives have made a significant investment in their corporate network within the last six months, and 80% have done so in the last year, despite having less capital available for IT spend.
According to the report, 74% of respondents said they make ongoing rather than periodic investments in their network.
"This suggests businesses are matching their IT capacity with demand for bandwidth and the latest applications as and when they need to, rather than making substantial investments once every few years," says Chris van Niekerk, 3Com SA country manager.
Van Niekerk, who maintains that the findings are equally applicable in SA as they are in the UK, says the objective of the quantitative research was to try to understand companies` approaches to investing in their network infrastructure - and in particular whether this was changing because of the current economic environment.
Board members from a number or major companies were interviewed in the survey, which was carried out by independent research company, Z/Yen Aspect.
"The results paint a promising picture for the networking industry as they show that senior executives recognise that the network is the backbone of their business and are therefore happy to invest in it, despite IT budget constraints," comments Van Niekerk.
"We believe that in SA - as in the UK - both IT and business managers are looking for the flexibility to pay for the network as they grow. New technology that we announced earlier this year will offer customers this flexibility in the way they build their LAN cores."
The research also revealed that two-thirds of respondents manage their IT budgets by allocating the costs into the business profit centres or to specific departments and divisions.
"This suggests that companies are looking for return on investment from their IT infrastructure," says Stephen Martin of Z/Yen Aspect. "Managers are now allocating IT costs to business managers, which indicates that IT expenditure is having to be justified more than ever before."
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