The struggling global economy will slow the growth of Voice over IP (VoIP), but deployments remain wide-ranging at mitigated levels, according to a new market study by In-Stat.
Slightly more than one in three U.S. businesses that have deployed VoIP use it exclusively. Many more businesses use VoIP as a partial voice solution. American businesses are also beginning to embrace voice-enabled IM capabilities, particularly among younger workers.
"IP continues to be a partial voice solution for most businesses with VoIP, particularly among larger businesses," says David Lemelin, In-Stat analyst. "Therefore, there is significant room for growth even among businesses that have already adopted it."
The research, "2008 U.S. Business VoIP Overview: Stick to Fundamentals," covers the U.S. business market for VoIP. The report analyzes and provides detailed end-user survey data by size of business.
In-Stat's market study found the following:
- 32 percent of Enterprise size businesses say the economic situation has slowed their VoIP deployment plans.
- Broadband IP Telephony remains the most common carrier-based business VoIP solution with revenues exceeding $1.1 billion in 2008, compared to $857 million for hosted IP Centrex service within the U.S.
- Adoption varies significantly by size of business, with Enterprise businesses preferring a partial deployment, while SOHO businesses are more likely to go IP-only.
- 13 percent of U.S. businesses use both carrier-based and premises-based IP solutions.
