Unified communications is migrating to the cloud, as vendors begin positioning it as a service rather than a product, according to In-Stat.
The study claims that infrastructure providers like Cisco, Broadsoft, and Microsoft are working with providers of hosted VoIP services.
In-Stat reported that two trends are poised to enhance unified communications, SIP Trunking, which enables the interconnection of unified communications islands and the wireless industry’s evolution towards higher data rates is extending unified communications to smartphones and other wireless data devices.
A study also revealed that as the world economy rebounds, so will unified communications with total revenues growing to $39.7 billion in 2013. Reportedly, the research Global Unified Communications Emerges from the Cloud covers the worldwide market for unified communications (UC), including an analysis of a survey of 1,000 US-based VoIP decision makers.
Dave Lemelin, analyst at In-Stat, said: “Several flavors of unified communications are emerging from the cloud. There are versions that operate as a hybrid mix of customer-owned equipment with managed/hosted services targeting mid-size businesses, those that act as fully hosted offerings with smaller businesses in mind, and those that are revamped broadband telephony services targeting SOHO users.”
