Microsoft emerging as EMEA UC titan - IDC

Microsoft is giving Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco, Mitel and Unify a run for its money, analyst claims

Microsoft has become a "head-to-head competitor" in the IP PBX and unified comms (UC) space after capitalising on traditional players' slow reaction to changing adoption patterns, according to IDC.

The analyst claims that between the first quarter of 2011 and the second quarter of 2015, Microsoft has tripled its market share from 4.8 per cent to 15.5 per cent in EMEA, becoming a "head-to-head competitor to the vendors that have traditionally dominated this market".

Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco, Aastra (part of Mitel) and Unify have been the top dogs in the space for years, grabbing between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of share each.

But now, with more than 15 per cent market share, Microsoft has become the fourth-largest player, IDC said.

"This is not a random rise of a vendor," the market watcher said. "The companies that had dominated the EMEA IP PBX and UC platform market come from equipment- and on-premise-focused backgrounds. They were too slow to react to the rapidly changing adoption patterns in the market, and Microsoft seized the opportunity."