Enterprise telephony equipment manufacturers suffered a one percent dip in the previous quarter that may have left some worried about how the year would end. However, such worries would have just been wasted time as the third quarter came back with vengeance.

According to Infonetics Research’s (News - Alert) latest Enterprise Telephony report, these same manufacturers enjoyed an 11 percent jump in worldwide sales in the third quarter to reach $2.6 billion.

All enterprise telephony categories tracked by Infonetics saw revenue and shipments increased. The TDM segment led the pack, according to the report, outpaced IP PBX sales in the third quarter.

"The Big Three (Avaya (News - Alert), Cisco, and Nortel) had excellent quarters, all growing well into the double digits," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise voice and data at Infonetics Research, in a Tuesday statement.

"The bump this quarter was partially due to seasonal factors, as the third quarter tends to be strong, but also because of increased demand across the board, even in the TDM segment. Overall, 2007 is on track for high single-digit growth over 2006."

The report also includes such highlights as:

Cisco displays a strong lead as it pulls away from the pack in the third quarter; this performance is an improvement after several quarters of neck and neck competition between the top 5 IP PBX (News - Alert) vendors.

Worldwide VoIP gateway sales have increased 10 percent in the third quarter over the second quarter performance.

The overall enterprise telephony market is projected to grow to $12 billion in 2010.

Hybrid PBX systems currently account for 64 percent of all PBX/KTS system line shipments worldwide and pure IP lines account for 18 percent, with TDM lines accounting for 17 percent.

IP phone shipments are forecasted to grow in the double digits each year through 2010.