Unified Comms continues upward path

The worldwide PBX market, including TDM, hybrid, and pure IP - dipped 7% year-over-year in 3Q14, but is up 5% sequentially. Unified Communications applications continue on a steady upward trajectory, rising 21% in 3Q14 from 3Q13. Leading the global PBX revenue market share in 3Q14 are Avaya, Cisco, and NEC (in alphabetical order), with Microsoft the forerunner in unified communications.

Market research firm Infonetics Research released vendor market share and forecasts from its 3rd quarter 2014 (3Q14) Enterprise Unified Communications and Voice Equipment report, and said that the PBX market was down yr/yr as businesses invest in unified communications and evaluate cloud and changing pricing models

"The enterprise telephony market continues to struggle as businesses hold off new PBX purchases. Companies are evaluating cloud alternatives and investing in unified communications applications instead of PBXs, and purchase cycles are getting longer," notes Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP, UC, and IMS at Infonetics Research. "There is competitive pressure as well, but not as much as in the past."

Myers adds: "North America again had the toughest quarter of all the regions, with a double-digit decline from the year-ago third quarter."