Telepresence an Immediate $22B Opportunity

Sales of telepresence and video conferencing solutions continue to climb, and a new market forecast projects the opportunity for vendors and solution providers is $22 billion between 2012 and 2016. This makes telepresence one of the most lucrative short-term opportunities in the channel.

According to market research firm Infonetics, telepresence and video conferencing equipment sales in 2011 jumped 34 percent to $2.99 billion ? a record year. Global sales are expected to skyrocket as businesses look to increase their collaborative capabilities through video, as well as cut travel and conventional communication expenses.

?Sales of telepresence and videoconferencing equipment surged in the past two years, with growth accelerating in 2011 as video took off on enterprise IP PBX systems. The video conferencing market is being fueled by a confluence of factors, including the proliferation of video-capable equipment, demographic and communication trends that favor video, industry use cases like tele-learning and tele-medicine, and most importantly, customer demand,? says Matthias Machowinski, Infonetics? directing analyst for enterprise networks and video.

The most attractive video conferencing systems are dedicated conference rooms, in which businesses have large screens and audio systems for group meetings. PBX-based systems are preferred by businesses as they offer the best ease-of-use, can interoperate with existing telephony systems and have lowest operating costs.

Video conferencing and telepresence, its more expensive cousin, are steadily increasing in popularity as system costs come down and bandwidth availability increases. The popularity of consumer systems such as Skype is driving demand in the enterprise for more personal communications mediums, as well.

Cisco pioneered the telepresence segment with its high-definition video conferencing rooms. It expanded video conferencing and collaboration capabilities with Webex and the development of unified communications platforms. No surprise: Cisco continues to hold the top spot in the market with 52.5 percent share, according to Infonetics.

The video conferencing market is teeming with solutions that can be delivered through the channel. Polycom, LifeSize, Avaya, Vu Technologies and Microsoft are all plying the market with video communications solutions that can be delivered and supported in conference rooms, on desktop PCs and on mobile devices. LifeSize, a Logitech company, is pushing more low-cost, high-definition video conferencing to iPhones and other smartphones. Specialty distributor Jenne has developed an entire enablement program around video conferencing.

While video conferencing is a growing opportunity, it isn?t always easy for solution providers to develop and deliver to market. Many product packages are expensive and complex, and most still don?t have the same ease of use as picking up a phone and dialing a familiar TDM number. Vendors are working on reducing complexity and making solutions simpler to enable greater distribution through the channel. As those simplified solutions hit the market, many vendors and distributors expect sales to accelerate.

Source: http://channelnomics.com/2012/03/26/telepresence-an-immediate-22b-opportunity/

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