They say, “All good things must come to an end.” But when the “good thing” is bringing in cost savings, simplifying processes, and offering technological advancements, the end doesn’t seem possible.
Recent market research from Infonetics (News - Alert) takes a look at the fourth quarter of 2011 and how the Enterprise UC, VoIP and TDM Equipment markets fared.
According to the report, globally, the PBX (News - Alert)/KTS phone system market was up at $8.43 billion in 2011, from $7.97 billion. Another strong point for 2011 was seen in IP PBX line shipments, which increased by 12 percent -- the strongest market to grow among all other segments.
Diane Myers, directing analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research (News - Alert), said, “Strong sales in Asia and Latin America helped push the overall enterprise PBX equipment market up six percent in 2011 over 2010, which is welcome news despite the flat final quarter of the year."
This is being attributed mainly to the troubling economic climate in both North America and EMEA, which smoldered growth and additional hiring in the SMB space. According to Myers, “Small and medium businesses did not add employees at a rate that necessitated meaningful sales of PBX lines, and many continued to hold off on upgrades.”
Two segments that were able to recognize growth in this quarter included pure IP PBX systems and unified messaging.
There is another bright spot worth mentioning, as Infonetics forecasts VoIP services are expected to grow in 2015 and reach $76B, driven by SIP trunking and hosted VoIP.
One thing is for sure, as the market heats up and more and more enterprises migrate to VoIP, vendors are stepping up their push to offer low cost, hassle-free solutions that will keep customers and help attract new business.
Edited by Rich Steeves