The worldwide market for unified communications (UC) and IP contact centres (IPCC) surged past the $1bn mark after growing by more than a fifth last year, research has revealed.

The Unified Communications and IP Contact Centers report from research firm Infonetics showed that the UC market enjoyed a 20 per cent spike in revenue last year, following a 19 per cent rise in 2006.

The IPCC market grew 24 per cent in 2007, after a 26 per cent increase the previous year.
Their combined worth grew 22 per cent to a global value of $1.05bn (£528m) and Infonetics predicts the market will enjoy similar growth until at least 2011. Avaya represents a dominant force in the market, as the vendor holds more than a third of unified messaging sales.

In the IPCC arena Avaya is also some way ahead of rival Cisco, but Infonetics analyst Matthias Machowinski said: “Market share will bounce around in the coming years as vendors try to establish themselves as the leader in a nascent market.”

Stuart Wells, Avaya’s president of global communications solutions, said: “We have a broad contact centre product line and are the industry leader. The UC market is fluid and interesting and has a long way to go.”

Mark Swendsen, EMEA managing director of vendor ShoreTel said: “There are still some people who cannot articulate the benefits of UC. Those who fail to see that UC can make people more productive need to look harder.”