Industry news

Europe adopts most managed IT services, says study

Europe is currently leading the world in the adoption of managed IT services, one new study has found.

Cisco revealed that its Ovum study - based on data from more than 1,300 companies worldwide - found businesses are increasingly looking to service providers for managed metro Ethernet.

Peter Hall, Ovum's research director, said: "CIOs [chief information officers] and IT directors are increasingly looking to service providers and managed service specialists for deployment and management of their networks to reduce costs and improve efficiency."

He added that this offered opportunities for those that can offer this service "especially in the areas of managed voice and security".

The study predicts that by 2012, managed Internet Protocol (IP) Virtual Private Networks will remain the most widely deployed service, though IP voice is currently the fastest-growing, with a 39 per cent current compound growth rate for the forecast period.

Meanwhile it was reported last week that the majority of businesses believe they are getting significant value from IT.

An IT Governance Institute poll found that 60 per cent of firms were convinced they receive a lot of value for money from their IT activities.