Hosted VOIP to Grow 1000-Fold

OYSTER BAY, N.Y. -- Telecom carriers have been offering hosted voice services, like IP Centrex, based on circuit-switched gear, for years. Markets for such services have remained steady, but small due to limited feature sets and geographic dependence on the local central office (CO). Offering services based on next-generation Internet protocol (IP) voice technology removes a number of these limitations, and typical architectures are inherently well suited to the hosted model due to their distributed nature.

From 1999 through 2002, many vendors of hosted IP voice equipment have been refining and improving the reliability of their products such that now, in 2003, an array of reliable solutions are available for service providers to offer their customers. Hosted solutions are particularly attractive in the current economic climate, as they provide an opportunity for businesses to get access to advanced features without the necessary investment in premise equipment.

"In 2003, we expect to see continued growth from emerging services providers who, after quietly launching their offers during 2001 and 2002, have been gradually building their customer base," explains ABI Senior Consulting Analyst and report author Julia Mermelstein. "While these providers gain customer traction in focused vertical or geographic markets, we will also see several incumbent telecom providers, who have been slow to engage in the hosted Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services market, convert trial activities into large-scale product launches."

While general availability of many IP voice offers to date has been limited, the combined worldwide revenues for hosted VoIP services, including IP-PBX, videoconferencing, contact center and unified communications are expected to grow from $46 million in 2001 to $36.5 billion in 2008, according to findings in the new ABI report, "Advanced IP Voice Services, Market Forecasts and Trends for VoIP-based Services: IP-PBX, Videoconferencing, Contact Center and Unified Communications."