Market Study on Growth of UC market
According to a new study released by MarketsandMarkets, a global market research and consulting company based in the U.S., the market for the cloud version of UC (UCaas – unified communications as a service) is expected to grow from $2.52 billion in 2013 to $7.62 billion by 2018, at an estimated CAGR of 24.8% from 2013 to 2018. Telephony is the most used technology for now and will remain so in the next few years as well. The global UCaaS Telephony market is expected to grow from $0.87 billion in 2013 to $2.48 billion by 2018, at an estimated CAGR of 23.3% from 2013 to 2018. This is great news for channel partners offering UC solutions from the cloud.
Interestingly, the most significant growth comes from the collaboration area, reports the study. The UCaaS collaboration application market revenue is expected to grow from $540.74 million in 2013 to $1.75 billion by 2018, at an estimated CAGR of 26.5% from 2013 to 2018. Companies across all verticals are using UcaaS to integrate web conferencing, video conferencing, messaging, VoIP and presence. Use of cloud delivery and integration helps decrease front load capital cost as the applications are offered on a per seat basis, which enables businesses to scale communications easily and effectively, with the end results of reducing travel time and creating leaner business processes.
Most of the major UcaaS players identified in the report come as no surprise - Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Alcatel-Lucent, Interactive Intelligence, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Mitel, and NEC – although their inclusion in the list of Panterra Networks and CSC integrators did raise eyebrows. Perhaps reading the report will bring clarity on why the inclusion of these two organizations.
According to their press release, MarketsandMarkets have the report available for purchase at http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Purchase/purchase_report1.asp?id=893
Infonetics: PBX Revenue Falls Despite Demand; Unified Communications Vendor Battle Looming
CAMPBELL, CALIF. — Market research firmInfonetics Research released vendor market share and preliminary analysis from its 4th quarter 2012 (4Q12) and year-end Enterprise Unified Communications and Voice Equipmentreport. (Full report published March 4.)
ANALYST NOTE
“Following two years of modest growth, the PBXmarket had a tough 2012. While shipments grew, competitive pricing pressure persisted, driving down worldwide revenues, exacerbated by Europe’s tough economic conditions,” notesDiane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP, UC, and IMS at Infonetics Research.
“On a brighter note, unified communications ended the year on a high note, led by Microsoftand its Lync platform,” Myers continues. “We expect the PBX market to move back into positive territory in 2013, with moderate growth in addition to continued strong adoption of UCapplications by large and mid-market enterprises looking to improve flexibility and productivity.”
ENTERPRISE TELEPHONY MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
· The global PBX/KTS market totaled $8.1 billion in 2012, down 4% from 2011; the EMEA region alone declined 10%
· In 2012, the unified communications segment grew 8% year-over-year
· North America and APAC were the regions to net positive revenue gains in the PBX market in 2012, growing a modest 2% and 1%, respectively over the previous year
· Pure IP PBX licenses grew 11% in 2012
· Cisco maintains its lead in global PBX/KTS revenue for the 6th consecutive quarter; Avayaand Siemens round out the top 3
· Only 3 vendors in the enterprise telephony market posted year-over-year revenue gains in 2012: Cisco, Mitel, and ShoreTel
· Infonetics expects fierce vendor battles to continue in 2013, particularly between Microsoft andCisco in the unified communications segment
CLIENT CONFERENCE CALL
Clients: Join Diane Myers Wednesday, March 13, at Noon ET for a live enterprise telephony market recap. Log in to http://bit.ly/WXSXmO for password to join the call live or view on demand.
REPORT SYNOPSIS
Infonetics’ quarterly enterprise telephony report provides global and regional market size, vendor market share, analysis, forecasts, and trends for TDM PBX and KTS systems, hybrid and pure IP PBXs, IP PBX by system size, VoIP gateways, unified communications, IP deskphones and softphones. Companies tracked: Aastra, Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco, HP (3Com), D-Link, LG Ericsson, Microsoft, Mitel, NEC, Polycom, Samsung, ShoreTel, Siemens, Sonus, Toshiba,others. To buy the report, contact Infonetics: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp.
Why Does Lync Beat the Competition?
Authors: Lync Team
We have won a lot of projects with customers who were considering some of our competitors’ products. I took a closer look at what makes Lync a better solution for these customers, and what I found was that customers believe Lync stands above its competition because of features that are easy to use and the interoperation...
Colombian National Police Improves Efficiency, Cuts Costs with Microsoft Communications Server
I’d like to share the story of how the Columbia National Police are using Microsoft Office Communications Server to improve police work and save money. The 150,000 police officers on the force work in a range of locations, from busy urban streets to isolated jungle villages. Prior to deploying their Microsoft solution, the organization used a Cisco IP telephony system for voice communications, and many police officers also relied on their personal mobile phones to keep in touch with each other. Officers had no way to see if colleagues were available for email or voice communications and frequently experienced poor audio quality on calls. The telephony solution was also expensive to maintain.
“Rural sites sometimes had no access to communications at all, and we had to travel to those areas to deliver news and orders,” says Jairo Gordillo, Colonel, Colombian National Police, explaining just how difficult communications could be. “Previously, we had to send a message from headquarters to a regional capital, and then that message would be sent by boat up a river, through a forest, and finally to the officer. That process took an entire day.”
In the process of replacing a portion of their telephony capabilities with Office Communications Server, the police force gained the ability to make use of instant messaging and rich presence information among nearly 18,000 officers. Many field officers equipped with laptops can make VoIP calls, view presence, or send an instant message right from their squad cars. “Officers are using our improved communications tools to prevent crimes by sharing intelligence about criminal activity, for example,” says Gordillo. “Using Office Communications Server 2007, we can locate and apprehend criminals more easily because we have real-time information about their movements. In some cases, we have also equipped officers with smartphones that have Office Communications Server 2007, which means they can locate and apprehend criminals on the move more effectively as well.”
The organization expects to save thousands of dollars annually on hardware costs and phone charges. It can also use the solution’s integrated video and audio conferencing functionality to provide additional employee training opportunities. The IT department has full control over the entire communications infrastructure, making it easy to manage. “We will save around $200 per computer or mobile device by using Office Communications Server 2007 because it will help us greatly reduce mobile phone costs.” Hardware costs, too, will be much lower. “We can easily manage all communications now because we have a single solution and single vendor for voice and email,” says Gordillo. “As a whole, this new solution helps our IT department do its job better and faster, just as it does for our police officers.”
This story impresses me because it highlights the value and importance of real time communications beyond the desk. The Colombian National Police officers are taking advantage of unified communications capabilities from Microsoft to fight crime. At the same time the organization is saving a lot of money compared to the telephony solution it replaced.
Kind regards,
Rainer Podjoutomo