NEWS
The market for enterprise IP telephony infrastructure in Western Europe continues to grow.
Sales for IP phones and switching systems both increased during the third quarter of 2006 with total revenues rising by 4.3 per cent to around $580m.
IDC, which monitors IP telephony markets in 16 European countries, recorded a 15.7 per cent increase in shipments compared to the previous quarter.
Revenues from IP PBXs contributed $393.6m with 1.4 million IP lines sold. The largest market share went to Cisco (34.2 per cent), followed by Avaya and Alcatel. Both Cisco and Alcatel improved their market share during the period.
Postcards from the bleeding edge…
Read the latest missive from tech guru and silicon.com columnist, Peter Cochrane, as he blogs from around the world.
Around 58 per cent of IP lines shipped went to medium-sized companies with 50 to 249 employees, while an increasing interest from small businesses saw them buy 18 per cent of IP lines sold.
Rogier Mol, senior analyst for IDC said that "every quarter" sees the number of IP PBX and IP telephone sales growing. And he said that apart from the need to replace existing infrastructure this is driven by employees' need to "communicate with each other more efficiently".
Comments
There are 2 comments. Join the discussion
1. Alvin Ernest
I am a big fan of VoIP, in fact I like anything that improves the quantity and quality of life at a reasonable price...
But, lets be very clear... VoIP is displacing TDM revenues and in so doing it is reducing ARPU, with its promise of free calls and lower tariffs... While its cost maybe lower, its profit contribution is also lower... it is a excellent disruptive technology and favours the challenger operator...
Don't get me wrong, I think its a good thing but we must also tell service providers that VoIP on its own does not constitute a business (like TDM voice was) it must be complimented with other services - a triple or quad-play menu is the minimum....
So in seeking an NGN architecture we must not think of dimensioning or catering solely for VoIP... Yes its a part of the mix but only part of it...
In seeking technology for the NGN, service provider would do better to dimension and design for video, especially "video-telephony"... There are lots of technology platform being introduced into the NGN without any consideration for "video telephony."
Further service providers must not focus on VoIP as a growing market, they must see it as a customer acquisition opportunity; real profitability will came from plurality in its service mix...
2. Alvin Ernest
So in effect those players who focus on VoIP without any consideration for other services in the mix i.e. IPTV, VoD, Video Telephony, FMC, Broadband, eRetail, Advertising etc... will FAIL...
Those who invest in platforms optimised for VoIP will have to re-tool sooner rather than later... I say to player consider your business models carefully...
The "Trojan horse" is closer than you think... consider your product/portfolio management carefully... don't get drawn into the tradition of product management, think portfolio, think about your menu for "consumption"...