Next-Gen VoIP Gear Hit $2.5 Billion In 2005: Report

The next-generation voice equipment market hit a new high in 2005 with $2.5 billion in revenue, according to a new report by Infonetics Research.

This was double the next generation voice equipment revenue from last year. Sales are projected to increase by 145% over the next four years to reach $6.2 billion by 2009. All equipment categories in the market attributed to the increase, and all but media servers and Class 5 soft switches went up for the quarter.

The number of residential and SOHO VoIP subscribers has also increased worldwide. In the Asia-Pacific there were 14.2 million subscribers and in EMEA there were 5.4 million subscribers. The US is projected to have the largest increase in subscribers, jumping by 800% from 4.3 million this year to 39 million in 2009.

"2005 was a watershed year for next gen voice, with VoIP subscriber uptake moving at a torrid pace, and numerous incumbents around the world committing to long-term migration projects that will lead to increased legacy switch removal and more next gen voice equipment deployments," analyst Stephane Teral said in a statement.

The report also found that Nortel continued its lead in the combination media Gateway and soft switch market, with Siemens taking second place, and Huawei with third. Huawei had the largest softswitch license with 26% market share worldwide in 2005.