VoIP gateways on the rise worldwide, says report

A new Synergy Research Group report has been released, with a few teasers released to the public at large. Included was the news that the IP multimedia subsystem business is still showing strong growth rates worldwide, with the Asian Pacific region’s quicker than those of Europe and North America. Synergy statistics show that sales of soft switches and VoIP media gateways grew over fifty percent worldwide.

In the Asian Pacific region, this rate was sixty-two percent. EMEA and North America recorded growth rates of sixty and forty-eight percent, respectively. "Introducing voice to IP has radically changed the future of wired and wireless networks," Synergy Research Group President / CEO Jeremy Duke declared along with release of the results. "…there is a heightened sense of urgency for those vendors who need to strengthen their IMS offerings to pursue partnerships or acquisitions."

Nortel was singled out as “the most successful of the established telecom vendors to embrace the migration of Voice to IP” in the report, despite that company’s recent restructuring plans. Nortel’s forward-looking early investments in IP telephony scored it the no. 1 market share position in carrier packet voice in the first quarter of 2006, according to Synergy. Sonus and Cisco Systems are noted as the strongest challengers in North America and EMEA, respectively. Naturally, recent acquisitions and mergers involving such huge players as the stories of Ericsson / Marconi, Lucent / Alcatel, and Nokia / Siemens are noted and “are sure to put pressure on current market share leaders and keep the emerging IMS market dynamic.” Synergy forecasts that the IP multimedia subsystems market will significantly change the telecommunications industry by enabling new market entrants to overcome barriers of entry and by “forcing established players to merge or partner.”

The full report is available at www.srgreseach.com for just under US $2,500. Synergy Research Group (SRG) is a market research firm which specializes in quarterly market analysis, market share, forecasting, and strategic consulting. SRG offers market research services to the equipment manufacturing, semiconductor, and financial communities.