Unified comms defies tanking telephony market
Enterprise telephony market fell four per cent last year as businesses held off purchases, says Infonetics
Sales of unified communications (UC) applications leapt 20 per cent last year, defying a slowdown in the wider enterprise comms market, according to Infonetics Research.
The market watcher found that global sales of enterprise telephony and UC fell four per cent to $8.7bn (£5.8bn) in 2014 as businesses continued to hold off new purchases and upgrades of PBX equipment.
The UC applications segment provided the one bright spot, however, growing 20 per cent on the back of demand for tools to boost workforce productivity.
Infonetics tracks sales of PBX phone systems, VoIP gateways, UC applications and IP phones, a market bossed by Cisco, Avaya and NEC – although Microsoft leads the UC space specifically.
Globally, PBX revenue sank six per cent in 2014, with line shipments falling three per cent.
"The enterprise telephony market continues to be tough," said Infonetics analyst Diane Myers.
"Just as we see one area begin to improve, it's offset by slowdowns in geographies or market segments. Underscoring the declines are not only slowing businesses purchases but also competitive pricing, which has created unpredictable swings."
You may also like
/sponsored/4039897/industry-voice-constant-life-change-last-months
Security
Industry Voice: "The only constant in life is change*", and no more so than in the last 18 months
We've seen a monumental change in how we buy, work, and communicate, and more change is afoot…
/sponsored/4035557/partner-content-voice-mobility-set-critical-services-resellers
Security
Partner Content: Voice, data and mobility set to become critical services for IT resellers
Exclusive research conducted by CRN in association with Gamma, shows how the pandemic has increased the appetite for Unified Communications