BOSTON, USA: The unified communications (UC) market, which includes unified messaging and communicator software, jumped 20 percent sequentially in 2007, following a 19 percent increase in 2006, according to Infonetics Research.

Similarly, the IP contact center (IPCC) market grew 24 percent in 2007, on the heels of a 26 percent increase in 2006.

Infonetics' report, Unified Communications and IP Contact Centers, shows that together, UC and IPCC sales grew 22 percent to hit $1.05 billion worldwide in 2007, and healthy growth is expected through at least 2011.

"As a key component of unified communications, sales of communicator software clients are taking off. The Nortel/Microsoft alliance drove growth in 2007, and Microsoft captured close to half the communicator market. Market share will likely bounce around in the coming years, as vendors from different backgrounds try to establish themselves as the leader in the nascent UC market and promote their offerings aggressively," said Matthias Machowinski, Infonetics Research's directing analyst for enterprise voice and data.

Other report highlights:
* Sales of the relatively small communicator segment skyrocketed 164 percent from 2006 to 2007.
* Microsoft jumped to first place in worldwide communicator revenue market share in 2007.
* Unified messaging makes up the bulk of the UC market, and is led by Avaya, with more than 1/3 of the market.
* Avaya also leads the IP contact center market by far, with more than half of worldwide revenue; Cisco is 2nd.

The transition from TDM to IP is causing the IP contact center market to grow more rapidly than the overall contact center market.