My colleague Alaa Saayed recently published research on the Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) market, and I'll highlight some of his key findings here. For more details, please visit the Frost & Sullivan website.Frost & Sullivan defines an enterprise FMC solution as any service or product that allows a mobile device to connect with the corporate PBX or WLAN. The goal is typically to deliver cost benefits through the integration of wired and wireless networks, and extend corporate features and applications to mobile devices and employees. Depending on the customer needs and requirements, an enterprise FMC solution may deliver one or more of the following capabilities:
* Basic PBX mobility (PBX-to-mobile extension) * Session redirection (device handoff) * Single-number reach * Single voicemail access * Manual or automatic session continuity (call handoff) * Mobile UC (integrated mobile presence, UM, IM and conferencing)
2008 saw the entrance of advanced enterprise FMC solutions into the market, as well as the considerable growth of commercial deployments. Many enterprises with multivendor environments will opt to go with a 3rd party FMC solution, which can span their diverse communications platforms. Continued joint developments, a growing number of partnerships, and technology enhancements helped the market evolve. Escalating mobile costs, poor in-building coverage, the need for increased productivity, and the growing desire to provide "anywhere, anytime access" to mobile workers are the main drivers for enterprise FMC solutions. But for most companies, cutting their mobile expenses tops the list.
Frost & Sullivan estimates that in 2008, the overall worldwide shipment of enterprise handset units with an FMC solution reached 2.67 million (installed or activated)--a whopping 230 percent year-over-year growth. Out of the newly activated FMC solutions in 2008, Frost & Sullivan estimates that about 17 percent, or 464,833 mobile units, were associated with an advanced premise-based FMC solution (connecting to the company's PBX and delivering features such as dual-mode voice call handoff and mobile UC applications). The remaining 83 percent, or 2.21 million handsets, included basic PBX-to-mobile extensions, and to a much lesser degree, carrier-based hosted FMC solutions, UMA enterprise FMC deployments and Web-based FMC solutions.
While PBX-to-mobile extensions dominate the worldwide installed base and the current shipment numbers, 2008 saw the proliferation and adoption of advanced premise-based FMC/Mobile UC clients and alternative FMC solutions coming from different market participants, including UC vendors, fixed carriers, cellular carriers and handset manufacturers.
Advanced enterprise premise-based FMC solutions grew in 2008, generating $118.7 million in total revenues, a 486 percent increase over 2007. That remarkable growth can be attributed to both the nascent nature of the market and the strong case for enterprise mobility. Frost & Sullivan expects the overall CAGR (2008-2015) to be 61.4 percent for revenues, and 72.6 percent for total advanced enterprise premise-based FMC clients shipped.
