The latest figures released by MZA show that the market for PBX/Call Controller extensions and licenses (excluding Micro PBX products) fell by 3% year-on-year in Q4 2013 (period October to December 2013 inclusive) and 5% year-on-year in CY 2013 (January to December inclusive).
There were overall year-on-year volume declines in both the SME (solutions with <100 licenses/extensions) and enterprise (solutions with >100 licenses/extensions) over the quarterly and annual periods: the <100 market suffered a 5% decline in Q4 2013 and a 6% decline in CY 2013, while the >100 market witnessed a 1% decline in Q4 2013 and a 3% decline over the year.
In Q4 2013, there were significant regional differences in performance. The market of Latin America grew by 10% year-on-year and was the only region in growth, while the Asia Pacific market remained flat. The global downturn was driven by the markets of North America and Middle East and Africa which fell by 5% and 3% respectively, and the markets of Western Europe and Eastern Europe which continued to decline year- on-year falling by 8% and 5% respectively.
Historically, the final quarter of the calendar year has often seen the largest quarterly market volumes of the year, and Q4 2013 did continue this trend. However, continued economic constraints on the SME market to invest in a PBX/Call Controller coupled with an increasing impact of alternative solutions (mobile and multi-tenant) on the market, drove a quarter-on-quarter decline of 2% in the <100 extensions/licenses market (excluding Micro PBX products). The >100 extensions/licenses market witnessed a 3% quarter-on-quarter growth in Q4 2013, to record the highest quarterly market volumes this year.
Cisco remained the leading vendor in the global PBX extensions/licenses market (excluding Micro PBX products) in Q4 2013 extending their Q3 2013 lead over Avaya with a 14% market share. Avaya took an 11% market share to remain in second position. Both vendors saw some notable growth in the Latin American market in Q4 2013, largely driving a double-digit year-on-year uplift in the Latin American >100 extensions/licenses market.
Aided by year-on-year double digit volume growth in both the Asia Pacific and Middle East and African markets, Panasonic supplanted NEC for third position in the global market with an 8% market share.
When looking at 2013 global PBX market in full, every regional market and the majority of country markets declined. The North American market fared best registering only a minimal volume decline, but significant volume declines in Western Europe and Asia Pacific drove the market to a 5% year-on-year decline.
Cisco retained their global lead in the 2013 extensions/licenses market with a 13% share, down one percentage point year-on-year. The positions of the top five vendors were in fact unchanged in 2013, although Avaya and NEC in second and third respectively, increased their lead over Panasonic and Unify (formerly Siemens Enterprise Communications) in fourth and fifth.
Panasonic replaced NEC to lead the <100 extensions/licenses market (excluding Micro PBX products) in Q4 2013 with a 13% share, aided by an improved performance in Asia Pacific against Q4 2012. However, over the year NEC supplanted Panasonic as the number one vendor globally in the <100 market taking a 14% market share, compared to 13% in 2012. NEC performed particularly well in EMEA in 2013 and gained market share in the process, adding to their strong position in Asia Pacific and North America.
Cisco remained the clear market leader in the Q4 2013 >100 extensions/licenses market with a 24% share, down two percentage points year-on-year, while Avaya remained in second position with a 12% share. Alcatel-Lucent's strong performance in EMEA in Q4 2013 saw the vendor climb to third position with a 7% market share.
Over the year, Cisco continued to lead the >100 licenses/extensions market, followed by Avaya and Unify with the top three vendors unchanged. Key performers in 2013 included Huawei, Microsoft and Mitel who all gained one percentage point in global market share year-on-year.