BIGGEST CONTRIBUTORS
The IT and ITeS vertical invested the highest amount in voice solutions especially IP-PBX. This is because, being a very people-intensive segment, it focuses on technologies to enable productivity increase of the workers. The second vertical that contributed the most to the growth of this segment was BFSI. Apart from the private sector banks, the PSU banks are also moving toward deploying advanced voice solutions. The SMB sectors have also contributed largely to the growth of voice solutions in FY '06-07 in India.

Cisco sold around 15,000 IP phones to organizations in the IT/ITeS segment and won huge orders from the government sector for e-governance initiatives. On the other hand, Nortel provided converged IP voice and data connecting 150 South Indian Bank branches along with getting orders from major companies such as Hinduja TMT, ICICI One Source, Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Infocomm. It had a very strong presence in the government and defense sectors and also launched their SMB strategy. The biggest deal bagged by Nortel was the IVR project for Indian Railways. Nortel also undertook a 'Call 108' (911-style) emergency services contact system for Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMR) in Andhra Pradesh which would eventually be deployed nationwide.

Siemens bagged big orders from Delhi International Airport Ltd, Bangalore International Airport, and Hyderabad International Airport where it provided multiple networked IP-PBX systems with call center applications. It deployed IP-PBX for the corporate office and plant of Claris Pharma and undertook a large IP-PBX deployment for ICICI Lombard. For Siemens Information Processing Systems, it deployed IP PBX with applications for call centers, wireless LANs, etc.

While Alcatel-Lucent had RBI and ICICI in their client list, Ericsson bagged a prestigious 1st MX One (IP-PBX) order from Royal King Palace of Nepal supplying 400 ports for voice communication with DECt for mobility. Ericsson also got orders from Soldiers eCare Contact Center (SeC) along with a 60 seat call center for Delhi Police and a 3,000 port order for MX One from Bhutan Steel Plant.
 

GROWTH OBSTACLES
However, the voice solutions market also faces certain challenges that are hindering its growth. The PBX industry is witnessing a drastic change on the technology front. With the introduction of technologies like IP telephony, the definition of enterprise communication itself has changed. So continuous enhancement of product lines is taking place to cater to the latest IP technologies, while simultaneously decreasing price levels are the main challenges faced by the PBX industry.

Also, many more customers are looking for pure IP deployments but the prohibitive costs of IP terminals restrict large deployments of pure IP systems. On an average, the converged systems are available at Rs 4,000 per user while pure IP systems including IP terminals are available at Rs 15,000 per user.

There is very little awareness among the users about the advantages of IP telephony in terms of total cost of ownership. They need to be educated. Another challenge is that the government regulations do not allow connectivity of PSTN and CUGs. Although termination of both on PBX systems is now allowed, it needs to be logically portioned. This more or less cancels the benefits of IP for the enterprise.

Another aspect is infrastructure. There is a need for high-quality broadband connectivity and cost effective leased lines for pure IP-PBX to function well. With deregulation coming in, the cost of leased lines is coming down but the international leased lines are still expensive as compared to the western countries.

Also, in a wireless VoIP phone system, the number of calls that can be placed by callers at a time is limited. An access point in a system can't handle more than a few calls at a time. This limited capacity, therefore, has resulted in the inability of many businesses to use wireless VoIP. Businesses and industries that require huge volumes of communication on a constant basis would simply overload a wireless network.

THE FUTURE
The industry is moving towards unification. Enterprise and carrier networks are overlapping in functionality. The way forward in such a scenario is to offer comprehensive solutions catering to different market segments like SOHO, SME and large enterprises. Extensive customer reach, backed up by high quality service support will be a differentiating factor. Offering solutions for verticals like hospitality, trading etc, will generate a new market segment. IP converged network is a basic requirement of an enterprise now. Real-time IP applications on converged networks will revolutionize the enterprise communication market.

FY '06-07 saw a number of deployments and this reveals that the IP telephony equipment market is quickly emerging from the regulatory roadblocks that it faced. There has been a significant improvement in the technology and thus, IP-PBX is bound to grow at the same rate in the coming years. Large, booming economies of China and India represent a huge opportunity to equipment vendors, systems integrators and telecom carriers. More and more organizations will move to pure IP-PBX solutions instead of opting for hybrids and as companies in India start considering IP to be the backbone of their business infrastructure, IP telephony market is expected to reach $300 mn dollars by 2010. With Indian SME telephony market expected to reach $158 mn, it is becoming a hot focus area for the solution providers as well. Players like Avaya Globalconnect have already started alliances with other vendors to provide solutions for this segment. Other players are also focusing on this segment and also on government, retail, manufacturing and FMCG. India is expected to overtake Australia's IP telephony market by 15% in 2010. Another feature, which is expected to gain traction, is the applications for IP-Telephony. With bigwigs such as Avaya Globalconnect and Nortel focusing on services there will be a lot of action to see in the coming days.

Sonia Sharma
sonias@cybermedia.co.in