Despite the growing popularity of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling, VoIP phones in the enterprise will not represent the majority of installed PBX base until 2009, says a new report from Insight Research (www.insight-corp.com). PBXs are the phone systems used by large companies to route calls to individual offices, and shipments between 2004 and 2009 of the newer VoIP PBX phones are expected to grow at a compound rate of more than 20%, while older TDM phone shipments will decline at roughly the same rate. However, TDM phone technology will continue to dominate the installed base until the end of the decade.
According to the Insight study, "IP PBX and IP Centrex: Growth of VoIP in the Enterprise 2004-2009," the PBX business will ship about $4.3 billion worth of equipment this year.
Insight's study also found that last year, the voice equipment market reached a much-anticipated inflection point, with traditional PBX vendors like Nortel and Avaya finally grabbing back momentum and shipping more of the newer IP PBX phones than rivals Cisco and 3Com.
"By 2009, the installed base of IP equipment will dominate the enterprise landscape, but that's still a few years away," says Bob Rosenberg, president of Insight Research. "The cost of going to VoIP is certainly a factor here, since the price of newer IP phones will continue to be about 25% higher than the TDM alternative, even as volume shipment of VoIP phones takes off. VoIP never was and never will be the least expensive way to deliver voice to the enterprise, but he allure of VoIP's rich applications like video telephony will slowly convert enterprise legacy customers."
The 148-page report costs $3,995; PDF report licenses are also available.