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A new report on the U.S. Hosted IP telephony market from T3i Group reveals that the market has increased by more than one third and will continue to grow throughout the next two years.

 

The report, “InfoTrack for Enterprise Communications (News - Alert),” says that demand is rising for off-premises voice and connectivity service solutions. It also said customers are more aware of their telephony options than they were a year ago and that the selling cycle is shortening.

 

With VoIP system growth, new solutions such as Hosted IPT and IP trunking that enable users to obtain IPT functionality without significant upfront capital investments are gaining acceptance, T3i Group said.

 

Software-as-a-Service solutions are subscribed, rather than purchased, so they enable small and medium businesses managers to obtain the advanced capabilities that were previously available only to large enterprises.

 

SMBs and enterprises with branch locations are adopting these services at an accelerated pace, T3i Group said. Service providers also are adapting to the market: mergers, acquisitions, communications retailers and new sales channels are increasing service provider visibility and further accelerating Hosted IPT adoption.

 

The study reports that Hosted IPT market, which grew from the initial technological and branch office appeal of carrier-grade Centrex solutions, is changing in many ways.

 

With the addition of advanced features such as unified communications, and video and Web conferencing as well as integrated Customer Relationship Management applications that can be coupled with Hosted IPT features, customers are gaining access to advanced functionality.

 

To leverage these opportunities, many new players, including cable operators and such large PBX (News - Alert) manufacturers as Cisco now target the SMB market.

 

Another trend, which T3i Group found, was the consolidation of small service and platform providers. Also, Tier 1 carriers are reorganizing, to retain current customers and to target new business customers cost-effectively

 

T3i Group interviewed almost 50 service providers, platform vendors and wholesale service providers for this report.

 

“Decision-makers select Hosted IPT for a multitude of reasons,” said Russell Horowitz, market research specialist at T3i Group and co-author of the report. “The allure of such advanced features as telephony integration within integral business processes for competitive advantage, voice telephony cost savings and investment deferral are benefits of the innovations that this sector of the telecommunications community is introducing.”