Research and Markets: Audio Conferencing's Induction into Unified Communications to Raise Demand for Audio Conferencing Bridges

DUBLIN--(Business Wire)--
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/74a3de/world_audio_confer) has
announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report "World Audio
Conferencing Bridge Markets" to their offering.

This strategic analysis is part of Frost & Sullivan's continued coverage of the
conferencing and collaboration marketplace. Within this analysis, Frost &
Sullivan has identified market drivers, restraints, competitive landscape,
revenues, market shares and key market trends, within the global audio
conferencing bridge market. With extensive primary and secondary research, this
analysis provides real-time collaboration vendors with a detailed look at the
current and changing dynamics in the fast evolving audio conferencing bridge
marketplace.

Audio Conferencing's Induction into Unified Communications to Raise Demand for
Audio Conferencing Bridges

The ongoing drive toward greater globalization and virtualization has heightened
the need for geographically dispersed businesses to communicate effectively.
Audio conferencing vendors are expected to seize this opportunity to address the
requirement for economical and real-time communication solutions for
long-distance business collaboration. Another trend that is fast catching on is
the heightened social consciousness of companies that are eager to showcase
their 'green initiatives' and reduce carbon footprints. This enhanced
environmental responsibility, combined with general economic pressures and
increasing airfare and fuel prices, are making a solid case for audio
conferencing and thereby, bridges. Moreover, vendors have been discontinuing
support of legacy time division multiplexing (TDM) systems that are reaching the
end of their lives and are instead focusing on Internet Protocol (IP)-based
systems. This, in turn, is driving equipment refresh and adoption. "The ongoing
transition to IP, increased focus by businesses on using collaborative
solutions, and spotlight on unified communications are offering new growth
opportunities as well as challenges to audio conferencing vendors," says the
analyst of this research. "Like other conferencing markets, the audio
conferencing bridge market is undergoing a transformation in product features,
functionality, and end-user needs as it becomes a key element in implementing a
collaborative workplace."

Port shipment of audio conferencing bridges are expected to continue to rise
rapidly; however, this could be partially offset by the continuous price
erosion. Bridge vendors will have to bear the brunt of the onset of
reservationless services and commoditization in the audio conferencing services
market, as service providers are very likely to transfer this price pressure to
them, causing revenue growth to lag behind shipment growth. "The market is
quickly adopting a new generation of IP-based, larger port capacity, flexible
audio conferencing solutions that comprise IP-based media servers working along
with low-cost application servers," observes the analyst. "As audio conferencing
gets rolled into a complete solution with IP telephony, messaging, audio, video,
and web conferencing, calendaring, and eventually, unified communications,
vendors will experience greater price pressures." Nevertheless, once audio
conferencing becomes integrated with a larger communications suite, a wider
feature set will aid assimilation with other unified communications
applications, guaranteeing a constant stream of demand and revenue.

Key Topics Covered:

Introduction

1. Definitions

2. Research Scope and Methodology

3. State of the Market

4. Measurements

Technology Trends

1. IP vs. PSTN Traction

2. Penetration of IP Media Servers Increases

3. Impact of Unified Communications

Market Trends

1. Increased Emphasis on In-house Solutions

2. USF VoIP Regulations to Cause Additional Pressure in the Service Provider
Segment

3. Vendors Look towards International Opportunities

4. Service Providers Look towards Managed Services

5. Pricing Trends

Market Forecasts

1. Market Drivers

2. Market Restraints

3. Forecast Assumptions and Analysis

4. Market Forecasts

Competitive Analysis

1. Competitive Structure

2. Market Shares by Revenues

Vendor Profiles and Analysis

1. Avaya

2. Cisco

3. Compunetix

4. Polycom

5. RadiSys

6. Others

For more information visit
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/74a3de/world_audio_confer

Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
Fax from USA: 646-607-1907
Fax from rest of the world: +353-1-481-1716
press@researchandmarkets.com

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