Enterprise users boost UM market

BANGALORE: IDC expects revenue from unified messaging (UM)

applications for both enterprises and service providers to further increase

through 2008, with business users ultimately becoming the strongest market

segment.






Revenue in the worldwide UM applications market grew over 4% to $489.7 million
in 2003 as vendors supported growth among carrier customers and battled the

sentiment that cell phones, PDAs, and services alone provide enough message

management and unification for most users, claims IDC.






UM refers to applications that unite e-mail, fax, and voice messages in a single
mailbox, accessible by a PC, browser, or telephone.

"Business users are gobbling up PDAs, multifunction cell phones,

and e-mail devices such as BlackBerrys as a way to make themselves more mobile,

but these devices often aren't linked to corporate e-mail or voicemail systems,

and can ultimately make business communications systems much more fragmented,"

said Robert P. Mahowald, research manager for IDC's Collaborative Computing

service.






"Vendors of UM products such as Cisco, Avaya, and Nortel Networks need to
reassert their strengths in the storage, management, and integration of users'

voicemail and e-mail messages and as the primary architects of computer and

telephony integration (CTI). The winning UM products vendors need to lead - not

follow - in any discussion about mobility and bringing IP voice to the desktop,"

said Mahowald.






To take advantage of significant UM market opportunities, IDC believes vendors
should consider combating the growing perceptions of business users who think

mobile e-mail on a BlackBerry is the best way to unify messages.






Vendors should also increase the role for real-time IP products alongside
real-time presence-based platforms. They should also confront market transitions

head-on, such as the shift to IP voice controlled at the desktop, advises IDC.