Look at the fourth quarter of 2011

Recent market innovation from Infonetics takes a look at the fourth quarter of 2011 and how the Enterprise UC, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and TDM Equipment markets fared.

According to the report, globally, the PBX (Private -Automatic- Branch Exchange)/KTS phone system market was up at $8.43 billion in 2011, from $7.97 billion. Another strong point for 2011 was seen in IP PBX (Private -Automatic- Branch Exchange) line shipments, which increased by 12 percent -- the strongest market to grow among all other segments.

Diane Myers, directing analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Technology, said, "Strong sales in Asia and Latin America helped push the overall enterprise PBX equipment market up six percent in 2011 over 2010, which is welcome news in spite of the flat final quarter of the year."

The troubling economic climate in both North America

This is being attributed mainly to the troubling economic climate in both North America and EMEA, which smoldered growth and additional hiring in the SMB space. According to Myers, "Small and medium businesses did not add employees at a rate that necessitated meaningful sales of PBX lines, and many continued to hold off on upgrades."

There is another bright spot worth mentioning, as Infonetics forecasts VoIP services are expected to grow in 2015 and reach $76B, driven by SIP trunking and hosted VoIP.

One thing is for sure, as the market heats up and more and more enterprises migrate to VoIP, vendors are stepping up their push to offer low cost, hassle-free solutions that will keep clients and help attract new business.