Traditional PBX telephony and hybrid traditional-IP systems evenly split the remaining shipments. PBX, however, brought in twice the revenue of hybrids.
InfoTech looked at more than 35 OEMs and tracked shipments in 17 geographic regions to ascertain that that IP shipments outside the US accounted for 70% of the market. Within the US, the trend was even more pronounced, at 80%.
While IP technology has replaced the traditional PBX in the United States, affordable key/hybrid systems remain attractive options for small business, and many key systems now offer IP connectivity, said InfoTech VP Susan Hobart, in a statement.
Just six players account for almost 80% of global IP telephony OEM revenue. They are Avaya, Siemens, Cisco, Alcatel, Nortel and NEC. They all now also sell small versions of their large IP systems aimed at enterprises, in a bid to target small and mid-sized businesses in emerging economies, InfoTech said.
Competition has changed – it’s truly global, and the largest growth segments are in new markets. Such emerging global markets as China, India and Russia represent huge growth opportunities, Hobart said.
