In a survey of Internet use in the UK, France and Germany, International Data Corp found that Germany has taken an early lead in replacing X.25 networks with TCP/IP equivalents while more English companies provide Internet access. At IDC’s annual European IT Forum, held in Paris, IDC Link vice-president Mark Winther presented data showing that 85% of the 40 UK companies surveyed have Internet access, compared with 60% of 30 German companies and a meager 37% of the 30 French companies surveyed. Overall, Winther said, 22% of the 100 companies surveyed are using intranets, while another 30% have a strategy for implementing them. He said the main advantages companies sought to gain by putting up an intranet were improved communications (82%) and easy information delivery (79%). To that end, 37% of German companies are using TCP/IP networks, 10% more are implementing them, 20% planning to implement and 26% evaluating. Those figures compared with 20% of French companies using TCP/IP, 3% implementing, 30% planning to implement and 17% evaluating. The UK, in contrast, showed only 13% of companies using TCP/IP nets, 8% implementing them, 15% planning to implement and 38% evaluating. Winther noted that security is a minor concern among users implementing TCP/IP networks.
