A survey of small and medium businesses has found that many are leery of the security of IP telephony systems and favor traditional telephony systems.

Some 300 SMBs with 20-500 employees were interviewed and only 48 percent of them said they trust IP telephony security today while 76 percent said they trust the security of traditional service providers. The survey was conducted for the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). Results were released Wednesday.

Curiously, 31 percent of the SMBs polled said they expect to have greater confidence in IP telephony systems in the next 12 months.

In a prepared statement, John Venator, the trade association’s president and chief executive officer, noted that the survey indicates product vendors and solutions providers with security expertise can gain competitive advantage with SMB customers.