Enterprise Telephony, UC In Solid Growth Pattern

A new report from Infonetics Research shows enterprise telephony and unified communications bouncing back from the recession just not rapidly.

[That market] is experiencing a slow and steady recovery, ending the 2010 year up 7.4 percent. Leading the recovery is the move from TDM to IP across all regions, particularly North America," noted Diane Myers, directing analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research.

The last quarter was the third straight for growth in enterprise telephony equipment, propelling the PBX and UC market back to annual growth in 2010, totaling $8.3 billion (up from $7.7 billion in 2009). Growth among small businesses and large enterprises in Central and Latin America drove a 20 percent increase in PBX spending in that region in 4Q10.

On the other hand, a pullback in spending by small and large business in North America led to a 5 percent decline there in 4Q10. Despite the fourth quarter dip in North American PBX spending, the region was the biggest contributor to growth in enterprise telephony market in 2010, as the U.S. and Canada have been ahead of the worldwide economic recovery.

The top vendors remain in a tight battle to gain new customers as enterprises migrate to IP and UC solutions. The two largest PBX equipment vendors, Avaya and Cisco, posted robust revenue growth in 2010, with Avaya edging ahead of Cisco by a hair for the year.