IT professionals and Gartner analysts recently gave their views on the changing role of networks within the whole enterprise at the research company's Enterprise Networking Summit in Las Vegas, USA.

Everything system and application administrators want to do affects networks, especially now that voice and other forms of communication are moving on to IP data networks, participants said.

That trend toward unified communications, along with richer web-based applications and a proliferation of consumer-oriented devices are among the key issues emerging for enterprise networks in the next few years, Gartner analyst David Willis said in a keynote address. Another looming trend is virtualization of IT resources, which Cisco, Microsoft and IBM all want to dominate, he said. Together, it all spells more chaos on networks, which have always been chaotic, he said.

Don't rush into IP telephony, Gartner analyst Jeff Snyder warned attendees in a breakout session. They should have a good reason, such as replacing aging phone systems or building a distributed contact center, before moving in that direction, he said. But network experts will take on a bigger role in overall corporate strategy as the new technology comes in, he added. Voice, instant messaging and other modes of communication are being integrated into applications themselves.

Perfect timing