Q1 2008 Enterprise Telephony Market Remains Highly Competitive


RENO, NV--(Marketwire - May 19, 2008) - Synergy Research Group (SRG) announces the availability of Synergy's Q1 2008 Enterprise Voice Market Share reports, which shows the Worldwide Enterprise Telephony equipment market growing 4.0 percent year-over-year. The fastest growing market segment was IP Phones, which grew 14.8 percent year-over-year, followed by Enterprise IP Telephony which increased 11.7 percent year-over-year.

Synergy defines Enterprise Telephony as the combination of IP Telephony and traditional TDM Phone Equipment. The latest Synergy reports indicate that Enterprise Telephony market share gains were difficult, at best, in the quarter thus indicating an intense competition for this $10 billion market. More specifically, in Q1 2008 only 3 vendors were able to achieve market share gains.

"Enterprise IP Telephony and IP Phone equipment remain the key growth drivers for the overall Enterprise Voice market," says Jeremy Duke, President and CEO at Synergy Research Group. "This continues to translate into dollars for those vendors who are able to provide solid IP migration for legacy TDM environments, especially in the SMB market where IP penetration remains minimal."

Q1 2008 U.S. Enterprise Telephony Revenue Rankings

                            Rankings     Q-Q change     Y-Y change
Cisco                          1            8.0%          16.5%
Avaya                          2          -15.0%         -12.7%
Nortel                         3          -14.0%          11.9%
NEC                            4            9.0%          -1.3%
Siemens (SEN)                  5          -11.0%          -6.1%

                              Source: Synergy Research Group

The migration of Enterprise voice traffic to IP continues to disrupt traditional PBX sales where annual decreases remain consistent. Key Telephone Systems (KTS) are not experiencing the same level of displacement as PBXs, but as IP Telephony becomes more attractive to the SMB market, Synergy believes KTS will experience the same level of decline.

Q1 2008 Western Europe Enterprise Telephony Revenue Rankings

                            Rankings     Q-Q change     Y-Y change
Alcatel-Lucent                 1           -8.0%           0.4%
Siemens (SEN)                  2           -6.0%          10.1%
Cisco                          3           -2.0%          30.2%
Avaya                          4            6.0%          12.8%
Aastra                         5          -16.0%          -9.9%

                              Source: Synergy Research Group

Further, Synergy continues to believe that GDP growth provides a good indicator for Telephony market performance. In the US, Q1 2008 GDP was .6% and US Telephony growth was -2.4%. Conversely, the Euro area GDP was 1.6% and Western Europe Telephony growth was 6.5% for the same time period.

About Synergy Research Group

Synergy Research Group (www.srgresearch.com) is a market research leader providing quarterly market share, analysis, and forecasting services to the Telecom, Mobile and Networking Industries.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Heather Gallo Business Development Manager Synergy Research Group +1 775-852-3330 ex 101