Two recently-released market research reports both show the IP-PBX market declining quarter-over-quarter in 1Q12, flattening out year-over-year, and generally stalling in the face of economic headwinds.
UK-based MZA reported that the PBX/IP-PBX market declined 9% in 1Q12 over 4Q11, sinking back to the same level of shipments seen in the year-ago quarter (see figure).
"After the market looked to be on the road to recovery in the second half of 2011, Q1 2012 has returned to the same level as at the beginning of 2011, with the global PBX market registering 0.3% growth against the same quarter of last year," MZA reported.
MZA also reported that Cisco holds a narrow lead over Avaya in worldwide shipment market shares, 13% to 12%, though its lead in IP-PBX extensions was more significant, 29% to Avaya's 17%.
IP technology now constitutes 66% of all extensions in North America, the highest penetration of any world region; Western Europe has 47%, and the global average is 29%, according to MZA.
MZA's shipment data was complemented by data on market revenues from a separate report released by the market research firm Infonetics, which offered a similarly bleak picture of the market in 1Q12. Infonetics' research showed a 4.6% quarter-over-quarter decline from 4Q11 revenues for the global market.
Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics, stated that, "We are looking at another year of modest growth in the PBX market,” noting that global revenues were down 0.6% year-over-year in 1Q12. She added: "With businesses adding fewer employees or holding off on upgrades for as long as possible, the competition in the enterprise telephony market has gotten very aggressive. Cisco and Avaya, who’ve been battling neck-and-neck for more than 2 years, remain on top despite lower revenue this quarter. Meanwhile, NEC and Siemens Enterprise are two of the few vendors who managed to increase their PBX revenue this quarter."
The PBX market has historically tracked the broader economy and hiring, so it's not surprising that as the U.S. and Europe face weak recoveries, spending on PBXs has likewise been unimpressive.
