Conferencing applications seem to be the sole unified communications applications whose sales grew in the first quarter of 2009. Conferencing revenue grew seven percent quarter over quarter, though virtually every other UC applications category experienced a sales decline in the first quarter, say researchers at Synergy (News - Alert) Research Group.

 

Conferencing application sales grew at a five-percent rate in the fourth quarter of 2008. Conferencing (Web, video and audio) still shows good growth as corporations continue to spend on technologies that are perceived to have relatively short-term returns on investment and a positive effect on employee efficiencies.

 

Demand for managed service offerings in the first quarter, in part because of credit constraints, Synergy says.

 

The worldwide market for collaborative applications in the first quarter of 2009 amounted to $913.3 million in sales, says Synergy Research Group. That refers to sales of network-based applications such as UC desktops, presence management, instant messaging, desktop Web/video/audio conferencing, unified messaging and mobile applications.

 

UC Desktops have grown the most, Synergy says. Synergy defines a UC Desktop as a user workspace having access to voice telephony (PBX (News - Alert)/KTS/dial tone) and integrated presence management and instant messaging capabilities.

 

“We believe those vendors that are in a strong strategic position, such as Avaya (News - Alert), Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Siemens, ShoreTel and Mitel, are in good shape to weather the present business environment and provide a strong UC migration story,” says Jeremy Duke, Synergy CEO. “Those vendors that are more exposed and are displaying challenges with market share progress and in addressing other significant industry issues, include 3Com (News - Alert), Aastra, Nortel, NEC, and Toshiba.”

 

In the small business segment (150 lines or less), “ShoreTel continues to grow its UC offering and carve a leadership position in the market in the face of significantly larger competitors,” says Ken Landoline, Synergy VP.