Most Wanted: Virus Scanning, VoIP And Back-Up Services

A large chunk of survey respondents say they purchase more than just connectivity from their ISPs, and if the right sets of services were offered, theyd buy even more.

The hands-down, most-wanted service? Scanning incoming e-mail for viruses. Of the 2,980 people who answered the question, "What additional services would you like to receive from your ISP?," 56 percent said virus scanning, 43 percent voice-over-IP services, and 40 percent online backup and recovery. Another 40 percent are looking for managed firewall services, while 37 percent are interested in acquiring telecommuting support services, global roaming, unified messaging and videoconferencing services from their ISPs.

Additionally, 29 percent are interested in guaranteed quality of service, 28 percent in virtual private networks, 27 percent in video streaming and managed storage services, and 24 percent in instant messaging (IM) and audio streaming services. At the bottom of the list are hosted applications at 20 percent, and content distribution services at 19 percent.

These results beg one question: Are customers willing to pay for these services? The long-term health of many an ISP hinges on the answer.

About 25 percent of the 4,175 customers surveyed say they already pay for Web hosting services from their primary ISPs.

Among those who have Web sites but dont receive Web hosting services from their primary ISPs, 48 percent outsource to dedicated Web hosting service providers, 37 percent host internally and 15 percent outsource to ISPs other than their primary ISPs.

Desire for control is the most common reason given for excluding a primary ISP from the Web hosting loop.