Cisco captured
the number one spot in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) PBX call
control market in Q2 2011, with a share of 14.8 percent compared with 12.4
percent in Q2 2010, according to Canalys.

Market
conditions in the EMEA region remained tough in Q2 2011, as volumes declined by
3 percent compared with Q2 2010, while sequentially the market regressed by 4.8
percent.

As with last
quarter, the African and Western European markets declined in comparison with
the same quarter of last year.

The African
market shrunk the most due to fallout from the Arab Spring uprisings, though
country-level performances remained mixed.

Western Europe,
which was down 6.2 percent year-on-year, also revealed major variances at a
country level, with Spain and Italy performing particularly badly. The Middle
East experienced a modest year-on-year increase of 1.4 percent.

 

Central and
Eastern Europe demonstrated a much stronger year-on-year improvement, with a
growth rate in the region of 20 percent. This was driven primarily by Russia,
which has been recovering strongly on the back of sustained high oil and gas
prices, though shipment volumes retreated in comparison with Q1
2011.  

 

Competition in
the EMEA market remained intense in Q2 2011, as the top 5 regional players –
Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, Siemens, Avaya, and Aastra – achieved market shares of
over 10 percent, with an average of less than 1 percent between them.

 

It was a
difficult quarter for market incumbents Alcatel-Lucent (France) and Siemens
(Germany). Both vendors declined in their respective domestic markets, thereby
boosting Cisco’s lead. Siemens attained the number one position in Western
Europe, while Aastra clinched the second spot and Alcatel-Lucent the third.

 

Despite tough
conditions in the core call control market, we expect IP enablement to bolster
overall unified communications growth throughout the remainder of the year,”
said Duncan Clark, senior analyst, Canalys.

 

IP adoption
enables the easier integration of unified communications solutions, such as
rich presence, messaging, conferencing, and integrated email. With the ongoing
demand for enterprise mobility and the need to integrate multiple devices, such
as tablets and smart phones, the opportunity to sell more sophisticated
solutions increases. Vendors must help channel partners transition to
value-added sales if they are to capitalize on this trend and survive today’s
tough business environment,” Clark added.

 

By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]