Wednesday, 01 December 2004 00:00
Global sales of IP telephony systems have already surpassed those of traditional equipment.The Internet protocol (IP) telephony industry is united in pursuit of an ultimate goal: establishment of a single IP pipeline that will carry voice, video and data traffic. But when it comes to the roads leading to that Holy Grail, vendors are divided.
Take the market leaders in enterprise IP telephony, Cisco and Avaya.
Avaya`s approach is to link the new IP equipment with the old private branch exchanges (PBXs), lines and phones, while Cisco leads the IP-only, no-PBX vision.
Alain Schram, Avaya`s sub-Saharan Africa MD, says his company holds nearly 50 percent market share in terms of IP ports shipped in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region – 30 percentage points ahead of the nearest competitor.
Worldwide, though, Cisco and Avaya are neck and neck, with the number one position alternating between the two rivals following one or two big orders in a quarter.
Most common migrations to IP telephony involve installing an IP-enabled circuit-switched PBX that can service both traditional and IP phones, or upgrading an existing PBX to handle IP. Suppliers of traditional phone systems, including Avaya, Nortel Networks and Siemens, have added IP-telephony features to their existing products, allowing customers to extend the life of their installed PBX systems and phase in IP-based equipment where it makes sense.
Alternatives
An alternative migration path, led by vendors such as Cisco and 3Com, is to start from scratch with an IP-only PBX. “In this scenario, the existing circuit-switched PBX equipment is entirely replaced, along with all desktop voice terminals, unless customised IP adapters or gateways are available for analogue or digital telephones,” explains Andy Bull, MD of Mitel SA.
Finally, companies can opt for a middle-of-the-road, hybrid alternative. “Circuit-switched PBX systems are based on old architecture that`s not IP optimised,” says Bull.
Hybrid or “converged” systems combine the characteristics of both the other approaches and have a combination of IP, digital or analogue phones connected in a single system design.
Schram says Synergy`s enterprise IP telephony forecast is built upon replacement of traditional TDM (time division multiplexing) telephony equipment. “Synergy estimates the current rate of IP penetration at 33.4 percent and predicts 86.9 percent penetration in 2009.”
The market is already past the tipping point when it comes to annual global shipments. Gartner Dataquest estimates that sales of IP telephony systems totalled $2 billion in 2003, compared to $1.6 billion for traditional PBXs. By 2007, Gartner predicts that 97 percent of all phone systems shipped will be IP-enabled.
Ken Jarvis, South African Revenue Service CIO and winner of the 2004 ICT Leadership Award, is passionate about what his organisation can do for the country.
The six finalists for the 2004 IT Personality of the Year award share faith in what ICT can do for South Africa and its people.
The kid from Eldorado Park who made it big now has the chance to realise a momentous ambition - and drag the country along in his wake.
