“Each year that we conduct a new ICC research study in the SMB market, we see a significantly higher demand for IP Telephony,” said Terry White, vice president and senior program director, InfoTech. “The small and medium business decision-makers that participated in the study are expecting a major increase in the percent of their sites that would be implementing IPT and converged applications in 2006.”
In 2005, the revenue from IPT systems and converged applications for SMBs was $1.4 billion. By 2010, that market is projected to increase to $3.3 billion, which represents an average annual growth rate of 19 percent. Last year converged applications accounted for only 20 percent of that total. By 2010, the applications share is expected to jump to 46 percent of the total revenue. “Almost 60 percent of SMBs strongly agreed that IPT will enable new converged applications that can change the way that SMB companies do business,” White added.
“We have long focussed on innovation and delivering clear business value to our customers and that is being reflected by our increased marketshare,” said Doug Michaelides, Mitel global vice president of marketing. “Mitel delivers the full value of IP communications through networked business solutions that help customers achieve success through business process integration, enhanced employee productivity, increased customer loyalty and helping to generate new revenue streams.”
Mitel has also announced the general availability of Live Business Gateway to complement Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 and Office Communicator client applications. Based on the SIP, XML and CSTA standards, Live Business Gateway allows Microsoft's applications to access Mitel's IP-based call control, devices and applications, empowering businesses to leverage their existing investment in both Microsoft and Mitel communications solutions.
The company says the combination of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server and Mitel Live Business Gateway enhances information worker productivity and brings business process efficiencies by combining collaboration tools with telephony.