Global MSBG shipments to near two million by 2015

Worldwide shipments of multi-service business gateways (MSBGs) will run close to 1.8 million units by 2015, according to In-Stat.

The devices are used primarily by small businesses to combine data routing, VoIP hardware, switching, security and analogue voice interfaces into a single piece of equipment.

When taking into consideration new branches and small business start-ups, along with the number of current offices replacing equipment in 2010, In-Stat estimates that 27 per cent of competitive opportunities resulted in an MSBG purchase.

The company also predicts that nearly all MSBGs sold for enterprise branch office services will need to offer some form of unified communications functionality.

The decision by companies to centralise data combined with a general shift towards hosted software solutions has had a profound impact on the MSBG market, In-Stat highlights.

Norm Bogen, vice president of research at In-Stat, said that the "trend is driven by cost savings realised as a result of less infrastructure required on site as branch offices and SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses) are able to consolidate multiple services into an MSBG."