New data from TeleGeography partner Synergy Research Group show that the Unified Communications (UC) applications market grew 11% between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011.

According to Synergy’s Unified Communications Applications Research Service, this growth was largely attributable to a 27% increase in revenues from the desktop conferencing market segment. The desktop conferencing segment itself is being driven by one of its sub-segments, Software as a Service (SaaS)-based web conferencing. SaaS-based revenues increased 33% between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011 and now account for 36% of all UC applications revenues. Cisco commands the majority of the SaaS-based web conferencing market, holding a 58% share in Q2 2011, up from 54% a year ago. Both Citrix and Microsoft, which hold the number two and three positions in the sub-segment, lost market share in Q2 2011. Other unified communications market segments have not fared as well. Revenues from contact-centre services grew modestly, while unified/voice messaging revenues declined.

The Asia-Pacific region still accounts for only 15% of the global UC applications market, but growth has been far stronger than in other regions. Asia-Pacific UC revenues grew 18% between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011. Cisco has done particularly well in this high-growth region, improving its market share by eleven percentage points over the last four quarters. Worldwide, Avaya remains Cisco’s closest rival, followed by Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent.

‘Conferencing has quickly become an accepted way of conducting business meetings, with a key driver being the need to reduce travel and business expenses,’ said Synergy Research Group’s Jeremy Duke. ‘The wide availability and acceptance of SaaS-based applications has also been a strong driver of market growth. We forecast that annual revenues from SaaS-based web conferencing will double over the next five years.’

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: http://www.telegeography.com