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Enterprise spending for video conferencing and telepresence solutions is expected to more than double by 2015, according to a recent study conducted by market research firm Infonetics (News - Alert).

Last year alone, global enterprise video conferencing and telepresence system revenue grew by 18 percent to a total of $2.2 billion. Infonetics anticipates that market spending with exceed $5 billion in 2015.

"Communicating via video continues to be one of the top trends in telecom, as evidenced by strong growth in the enterprise video market," Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise video at Infonetics, noted in a statement. "Businesses worldwide are looking for richer means of communications with their employees, partners, and customers, and enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence solutions are a natural fit."

Machowinski added that the biggest winners in the thriving telecom market will be those that provide visual-based communication technologies that also offer other collaborative services.

Infonetics found that multi-purpose room systems accounted for the majority of telepresence equipment that was purchased in the enterprise last year, mostly due to their highly versatile nature. However, more affordable PBS-based software solutions out-shipped hardware products by a ratio of 10 to one.

As expected, Cisco Systems (News - Alert) dominated the enterprise video conferencing space with a 50 percent market share, powered heavily by the company's recent acquisition of Tandberg. Competitor Polycom (News - Alert) finished second in the revenue race but led the market in the number of units shipped, according to the research firm.

Meanwhile, a recent Forrester study found that 29 percent of enterprises are planning on investing in new or upgraded video conferencing equipment in the near future, according to eWeek. Within the next few years, a total of 62 percent of businesses are expected to have adopted some kind of telepresence solution. Forrester (News - Alert) anticipates that companies will embrace both desktop and room-based video conferencing technologies.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Janice McDuffee