Telecom Lead Asia:
Cisco and Polycom have dominated the Australian video conferencing endpoints
market in 2011.
Both vendors recorded strong growth in 2011 mainly due to a
combination of robust demand from major verticals and growing awareness of
video as a collaboration tool.
Huawei, due its attractive price points, is expected to
become more competitive in the Australian market over the next few years.
Teliris, Vidyo and Sony are also active.
Major verticals such as Financial Services, Government and Professional
Services together contribute more than 60 percent of video conferencing
revenues. The Mining sector will show opportunities.
The video conferencing market in Australia grew 28.7 percent
in 2011.
The immense opportunities in end points and channels are
driving vendors and channels to secure a share of the market.
The Australia video conferencing market, including video
conferencing end points, infrastructure and services, is expected to be worth
over AUD700 million by 2018.
Whilst there will be strong growth for endpoints, the
services market is offering increasing opportunities for vendors and channels
mainly in the areas of cloud-based video conferencing and managed services.
The Australian video conferencing market is expected to
register a growth of 18 percent over the forecast period.
Frost & Sullivan said given the current economic
climate, with generally cautious IT spending, this healthy growth rate suggests
that businesses still see video conferencing as an attractive option for reducing
travel costs.
The rapid increase in smart phones and tablets usage is
also expected to impact video conferencing adoption in the enterprise market,
as an increasing number of business users utilize these mobile devices for
video conferencing. The decline in price points for video conferencing
solutions is another contributor to the growth in the Australia market,”
said Audrey William, head of Research, Australia and New Zealand, ICT, Frost
& Sullivan.
The Australian video conferencing endpoints market (products
only) was up 36.3 percent from the previous year.
Cloud-based video conferencing (or video as a service) is
gaining momentum in the market. Though at a very nascent stage of development,
demand for such solutions is expected to grow over the next few years driven by
the ability to reduce costs by minimizing investment in video conferencing
infrastructure and as organizations move from owned infrastructure to accessing
services on an ‘as-needed’ basis.