SMEs behind telephony growth

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are fuelling growth in the European business telephony market, according to research.

A study by Frost & Sullivan has found that almost 90 per cent of new products in 2007 were aimed at this sector, defined as having fewer than 500 extensions.

In total, the market saw the shipment of 21.4 million lines last year, and the analyst firm believes this will grow to 22.1 million in 2013, with SMEs, not larger enterprises, behind the growth.

"The market is projected to slow down to grow at 3.3 per cent in shipment terms in 2008 due to a modest decline in activity in the 1000-plus extension market," said Dorota Oviedo, a Frost & Sullivan research analyst.

"A significant portion of this market has already undertaken the migration to IP PBX."

The report also found that telephony products are tending towards being software-based as these are more popular with the SME market, which requires simpler solutions.