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Infonetics Research: IP contact center market up 37%, UC market mixed in 2008

Communications market research firm Infonetics Research reports the IP contact center (IPCC) market will finish 2008 up 37% over 2007, with many vendors reporting robust sales, particularly in Asia Pacific.

Infonetics' report, Unified Communications and IP Contact Center Market Share and Forecasts, shows sales of unified communications (UC) products will end mixed in 2008, with unified messaging platform sales up and communicator software sales flat.

Because of the deterioration in economic activity worldwide, enterprise spending on telephony products is expected to slow in 2009, which will also pull down the overall UC and IPCC markets, although the IPCC and communicator segments will weather the economic downturn better than others.

"The communicator market continues to be fluid, with growth not yet following established patterns and market share positions shifting one period to the next as PBX vendors battle each other and Microsoft. It's an exciting market to watch, and one that should thrive in 2009, even as the overall enterprise telephony market declines due to the economic environment. Similarly, the IPCC market will slow down in 2009, but should do relatively well as customers find IP contact centers, self service, and automation cost effective ways to deliver on customer service," said Matthias Machowinski, Infonetics Research's directing analyst for enterprise voice and data.

Other highlights from the report:

--  In 1H08, over a million IPCC seats were sold worldwide
--  Avaya still leads the IPCC market by far in 1H08, but lost share to
    Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent
--  Nortel takes the lead in unified messaging license market share in
    1H08, while Avaya maintains its lead in revenue market share; Cisco is now
    a close 3rd for both
    

Infonetics' report tracks 3Com, Aastra, Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco, CosmoCom, IBM, Interactive Intelligence, Microsoft, Mitel, NEC, Nortel, Siemens, ShoreTel, Vertical, and others. The report covers add-on IP PBX applications, including unified communications (unified messaging and communicator), and IP contact centers, including ACD (automatic call distribution), IVR (interactive voice response), and CTI (computer telephony integration). The biannual reports provide worldwide market share and worldwide and regional market size and forecasts. Markets are tracked in North America, Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific, and Central and Latin America (CALA).

For report highlights, log in to Infonetics' online portal from www.infonetics.com (see Enterprise Voice). For sales, contact Larry Howard, vice president, at larry@infonetics.com or +1 (408) 583-3335.

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete more effectively.