IP PBX market sees growth

Worldwide IP PBX deployments went up between the second and third quarter of the year, according to a new study.

Infonetics Research revealed in its worldwide enterprise telephony market report that the IP PBX sector saw growth of nine per cent in revenue and seven per cent in lines.

There was also year-on-year growth of 25 per cent in VoIP phone shipments, while IP softphone deliveries more than doubled between the two quarters.

The telephony market as a whole increased by eight per cent over the period, reaching $2.6 billion.

Matthias Machowinski, directing analysts for enterprise telecoms at the company, said that the expected recession will probably hit telephony sales "because one of the prime drivers of PBX sales is the creation of new businesses and the expansion of existing businesses, which are hampered during downturns".

However, he added that IP PBX performed well because of new product launches and IP softphones "should weather the economic storm fairly well, with continued annual growth expected".

Last month, the firm said that the outlook for the VoIP provider market was "decent", given the current worldwide economic downturn.