Research and analysis

The PBX factor, hybrids and TDM

The PBX factor

Analyst MZA recorded a year-on-year drop in PBX sales in the UK during the third quarter of last year. Although sales were up on Q2 2004, a fall of four per cent was registered in sales of PBX and IP PBX devices to the sub-100-user market and a drop of five per cent was registered in the 100+ user market.

BT, the biggest seller of telephony kit in the UK, shipped 39 per cent more extensions in Q3 2004 than in the same quarter of 2003, taking its market share from 20 per cent in Q3 2003 to 30 per cent in Q3 2004. Panasonic held 16 per cent of the sub-100-extension market, while Nortel and Avaya laid claim to 14 per cent each.

An end to tradition

The main casualty in the PBX market has been traditional PBX systems. MZA combines pure IP and IP-capable PBXs together, and in the third quarters of each of 2003 and 2004 this combined market recorded 495,000 extensions sold in the UK market. Traditional systems dropped from 149,000 extensions in Q3 2003 to 122,000 in the same period of 2004.

Despite this fall in sales, it's worth remembering that the maintenance market for traditional systems is likely to remain active, bearing in mind that phone systems have a lifespan of 10 to 15 years.

IP hunting ground

While MZA puts pure IP and hybrid PBX sales together, it also measures pure IP extensions. This demonstrates exactly how many hybrid systems are actually employing IP, rather than just acting as a traditional PBX with time-division multiplexing (TDM) extensions.

Again, the figures tell an interesting story; pure IP extension sales are up from 62,000 in Q3 2003 to 80,000 in the same period last year. It's interesting to note that the majority (78 per cent) of these IP extensions, according to MZA, are sold into the 100+ extension enterprise market.

It's also worth remembering (especially if you're an IP vendor) that TDM extensions made up 87 per cent of extension sales in Q3 last year, a comparatively small drop from 90 per cent in the same period of 2003. A move to IP is happening, but it's by no means the stampede that some might have us believe.

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