Despite the rising popularity of Web conferencing and video conferencing among enterprises, the weak economy is playing a role on the infrastructure market in the Asia-Pacific region, a new report found.

 

According to a recent Frost & Sullivan report, “Asia-Pacific Video Conferencing Infrastructure Market,” growth in the Asia-Pacific video conferencing infrastructure market is expected to dip this year as companies cut back on expenses in the down economy. Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) predicted the market would grow 11.4 percent this year, down from 15.7 percent in 2008, it said.

 

"Although video conferencing solutions and services remain in demand even as budgets take a hit, corporations and governments are scaling-back on infrastructure deployments," Pranabesh Nath, a Frost & Sullivan industry analyst, said in a statement.

 

Frost & Sullivan said the market, which covers 13 Asia-Pacific countries, earned $83.1 million in revenue in 2008, and by 2015 it is expected to hit $238.7 million, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 14.4 percent.

 

The corporate segment is the largest adopter of video conferencing infrastructure systems in Asia-Pacific, accounting for 41.1 percent, or $38.3 million of revenues in 2008, the report said. The government sector was the second largest spender accounting for 38.5 percent, or $35.8 million of the market.

 

Yet, spending on infrastructure is expected to grow again as companies adopt high-definition video conferencing systems, which require infrastructure upgrades such as multipoint control units with HD support and comprehensive video network management tools, Frost & Sullivan predicted.

"The lull in demand is expected to recover in the midterm along with the improving bandwidth availability in Asia, IP deployments, as well as wider adoption of high-end telepresence solutions which will require a more robust and advanced set of network hardware than currently being used in most companies," Nath said.

 

Frost & Sullivan’s report covers conferencing bridges, gateways, gatekeepers, management tools and related software. The research is part of the Conferencing & Collaboration Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in Web conferencing, telepresence, video conferencing endpoints, conferencing services, online enterprise collaboration and shared workspaces.

 

High-end multipoint control units will be an important revenue generator for Web conferencing and video conferencing infrastructure vendors, Nath said. Those units accounted for 90 percent or $83.8 million in revenue last year alone.

Already, there are signs of a growing adoption of management tool, including device management, directory services and scheduling tools, companies need for large video conferencing deployments.

And as the threat of swine flu and other potentially deadly viruses impacts businesses, overseas enterprises will look at video conferencing solutions to keep firms operating, officials at The Conference Group, have said.

 

For example, The Conference Group (News - Alert), one of the better-known CSPs that offers on-demand, “reservationless” audio, Web and videoconferencing services all on the same platform, has reported increased use of its ReadyShow Web conferencing solution, an on-demand service which lets companies and users conduct conferences either on a scheduled basis or “on-the-fly.”

To learn more about The Conference Group’s affordable and reliable audio, Web and video conferencing services, check out the company’s Web site and visit the Web Conferencing channel here on TMCnet.