The world unified communications markets are poised for a huge leap forward as "technologies mature and businesses acknowledge the value of integrating disparate communications and collaboration technologies," according to a recent study.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, "World Unified Communications (News - Alert) Markets," finds that the installed base of fully-integrated UC users in 2009 was about 2 million, and is likely to reach 50 million by 2015.

As a nascent and largely untested technology, "UC suffered severely from the global recession, which forced businesses to limit investments to those generating immediate ROI," the study found.

Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) Principal Analyst, Unified Communications and Collaboration, Melanie Turek, said UC "offers the potential to drive growth in related markets and encourages companies to upgrade their equipment sooner than they might otherwise.'

Currently, UC is being offered in two distinct business models:  all-in-one suites and best-of-breed integrations

"Free UC clients, attractive bundling, and low-cost or no-cost pilot programs will help users experience UC and its benefits," Turek said. "By the time end users are ready to refresh and rebuild their infrastructure again, they are likely to specifically require UC capabilities and make more informed decisions about what to deploy, how, and from which vendors."

The study finds that over the next five to six years, "vendors are likely to continue to aggressively promote UC clients to their customer base, creating opportunities for future application integration.