Readers can be excused for being confused by the two press releases issued yesterday by Avaya and Cisco where both claim to be market leaders in telephony following publication by research analysts Synergy Group’s equipment report for 2005.
The answer to how both can be in pole position at the same time lies in the interpretation of the report and in particular the various market segmentation that Synergy and other analysts report upon. Vendors highlight the segments they are doing well in and set their spins machines working.
Here’s the Avaya version:
For the year 2005, Avaya has been identified as the global market leader in Enterprise Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony Port Shipments by Synergy Research Group's Enterprise VoIP Equipment Report for 4Q 2005. The report shows Avaya leading in IP Port Shipments for the ninth consecutive quarter (as defined by Synergy) with 20 percent of the global market in the fourth quarter of 2005; Avaya also led for the third consecutive year in IP Port Shipments with 21 percent for the full year. In addition, Avaya led in IP Telephony Revenues for the fourth quarter with 23.1 percent, according to the report.
"Avaya completed a strong year of leadership in a competitive market for Enterprise IP telephony," said Jeremy Duke, president and CEO, Synergy Research Group. "Given the magnitude of the Telephony opportunity, a large number of competitors continue to aggressively compete for the hearts and minds of the Enterprise customer. As the Telephony market continues to heat up, Avaya finds itself in the strategic position of possessing a large and loyal installed base of telephony customers who are prime candidates for IP migration."
For its first fiscal quarter, ended on December 31, 2005, Avaya reported that revenues rose 8.8 percent over the year ago quarter, including the first full quarter contribution from the company's acquisition of Tenovis in Europe. During the quarter, the company also completed its eight millionth IP telephony line shipment, with nearly one million IP port shipments in the quarter alone.
"Avaya remains the market leader in Enterprise IP Telephony," said Michael C. Thurk, Avaya senior vice president and president, Global Communications Solutions. "For the ninth consecutive quarter, these results demonstrate that customers around the world increasingly choose Avaya Intelligent Communications when they want to improve their business processes and support employees. We will continue to enhance people's ability to collaborate and communicate using IP telephony as the solid foundation."