Sonus Study: Enterprises Progressing with Unified Communications Deployments

Feb 08, 2013 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- Sonus Networks, Inc., a provider of SIP communications, released the results of a new report indicating that the market outlook for enterprise Unified Communications remains strong, fueled in part by enterprises equipped with a higher degree of understanding about the technologies available, potential applications and business gains.

According to a release, the report, "Enterprises Place 2013 Unified Communications Bets: How Many Horses in This Race " was commissioned by Sonus and conducted by the independent Webtorials Editorial and Analyst Division. Webtorials surveyed more than 200 enterprise IT professionals to determine their interest in Unified Communications, levels of deployment and drivers for adoption, with a particular focus on Microsoft Lync.

The company noted that key findings of the report include: -Seventy-eight percent of respondents had either partially or fully deployed Unified Communications solutions; most of the remaining respondents were or would soon be in the planning phase -Currently, 65 percent of Unified Communications deployments are premises-based, but that number is expected to decline to 31 percent as future deployments move more to the Cloud. Hybrid deployments are the preferred approach to Unified Communications in the future.

-Customer premises-based solutions for SBC functions are currently and will continue to dominate, although a slight shift to hybrid with solutions by service providers is expected as the reach of these solutions becomes more all-encompassing. Regardless of how SBCs are acquired, their role in UC deployments should bode well for standards-based SBC manufacturers.

-When asked about the most important factors in the selection of Unified Communications suppliers, "enterprise voice" led the way, followed by "unified messaging" and "mobile clients for smartphones and tablets." Surprisingly, "desktop video conferencing" beat "room size video conferencing" two to one, and "web conferencing" rounded out the top five.

-Going forward, it appears that Cisco and Microsoft's shares of the Unified Communications market will increase at the expense of the other IP PBX vendors. Cisco held a clear lead for enterprise voice, video teleconferencing and web meetings, while Microsoft was cited more often for IM, presence and enterprise social functions like internal corporate user profiles, directories and skills search.

"Unified Communications has clearly taken hold in the enterprise and it continues to evolve," said Steve Taylor, editor-in-chief and publisher for Webtorials. "There are new trends gaining traction, such as the shift from room systems to desktop video, the growing focus on hybrid clouds and changes in the positions of the lead horses or vendors. Since there isn't a dominant vendor in the market, interoperability - both within the enterprise and for intercompany communications - will be a key factor." "This latest Webtorials report provides great insight into the state of the enterprise Unified Communications market, outlining the opportunities and challenges that companies face as they implement technologies that can help dramatically increase employee productivity and customer satisfaction," said Wes Durow, vice president of global marketing & go-to-market operations at Sonus. "As enterprise deployment of Unified Communications grows, SBCs play an increasing critical role in helping companies overcome interoperability, service quality and security challenges often faced when implementing multi-vendor Internet protocol (IP) networks." More information: www.sonus.net ((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

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