MZA's latest Q2 2010 research into the global corded PBX market (excluding Micro PBX products) reveals an increase of 16 per cent compared to Q2 2009. However, the results indicate mixed fortunes depending on the sales region and point towards a turbulent road to recovery with fragile growth rates.

MZA's news of a 16 per cent rise in the Q2 2010 global corded PBX market is welcome, but not so encouraging is the UK's contribution to sales in the Western Europe. The results highlight a significant disparity in the performances of key regions with Western Europe, for example (which represents more than one quarter of the overall global market) showing weak levels of growth with volumes increasing by just one per cent in comparison to Q1 2010. A major contributing factor was the performance od the UK market, ordinarily the second largest in the region, which declined in Q2 2010 by five per cent compared to Q1 2010. This was after a more promising start to the year which saw the Q1 2010 volume up by eight per cent. In a reversal of fortunes, Germany demonstrated growth of eight per cent in Q2 2010 compared to Q1 2010 after it previously had dropped by 12 per cent sequentially. According to MZA, both of these results illustrate the volatile nature of the recovery in Western Europe.

North America, on the other hand, posted an encouraging set of results this quarter, both in comparison to the same quarter of last year (up by 18 per cent) and sequentially (up by 13 per cent), although this still leaves the market adrift of its 2008 average quarterly run-rate of over three million extensions. One of the biggest increases globally was recorded in Eastern Europe, observes MZA, where volumes have started to pick up following some of the toughest trading conditions. In Q2 2010, the market increased by 35 per cent compared to Q2 2009, although similar to the situation described in North America, such an increase does not take the market back to pre-recessionary volumes, nor does it bring it close. Much of the increase here was driven by Russia where volumes are normalising but still have a long way to go. The second largest growth rate was registered in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) where an increase of 19 per cent in Q2 2010 was recorded over Q2 2009.

Avaya continued to lead the world PBX market, growing market share from 13 per cent in Q1 2010 to 15 per cent in Q2 2010. Its leadership position was first attained as a result of the acquisition of Nortel. Cisco was in second position with a stable 12 per cent market share while Panasonic moved from fourth position in the last quarter to third position in this, maintaining its 11 per cent share. Panasonic continued to lead in the below 100 extensions sector with a steady 16 per cent market share, ahead of NEC in second position and Avaya in third. In the above 100 extensions market, Cisco was the market leader with a 24 per cent market share, followed by Avaya.

World IP extensions market
North America continued to lead the market for IP deployments, with around 1.5 million extensions deployed to the desktop this quarter, compared to 1.2 million in Western Europe. This means that North America has now achieved an IP extension penetration rate of 55 per cent into total extensions. This compared to a 36 per cent penetration rate in Western Europe which continued to show more growth in this market space than North America as IP still has capacity to develop in many countries and size segments where adoption has been slower in the past. Even so, Western Europe remained ahead of the global average of 32 per cent, which itself was up from 29 per cent in the same period of last year. Eastern Europe continued to be the region with the lowest IP deployment to the desktop as a proportion of extensions sold.

Overall, the IP extensions market grew by 27 per cent compared to Q2 2009, which was greater than the 16 per cent rise seen in the total extensions market. The below 100 IP extensions market grew by 33 per cent, while the above 100 IP extensions market increased by 25 per cent. In both instances, increases in the IP extensions market far outweighed the growth seen in the total market and also the growth in the below 100 extensions market continued to outpace the growth seen in the above 100 extensions market as the adoption of IP to the desktop becomes more widespread.

Cisco maintained its leadership of the IP extensions market with a 33 per cent market share, followed by Avaya at 21 per cent and NEC with 10 per cent market share.