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IDC Paints Bright Picture for Unified Messaging Apps

A recent report by analyst firm IDC says the unified messaging application market is poised for significant growth over the next couple of years.

The report, entitled “Turning the Corner: Unified Messaging Applications Market Forecast and Analysis, 2000-2004,” says the number of UM mailboxes will increase from one million in 1999 to more than 38 million in 2004. Overall, IDC reports the market will nearly reach the $2 billion mark.

According to the report, the success of hosted UM applications, along with the growth of IP-based PBXs, have begun to fuel worldwide UM spending. A number of service providers have also jumped into the UM arena, contributing to its growth.

In the near term, IDC expects the demand for enterprise UM applications to outpace the demand for hosted UM applications. However, by 2004, IDC predicts the hosted UM application market will surpass the enterprises UM application market at the leading segment.

While the U.S. is expected to remain the dominant market for UM mailboxes, IDC says the EMEA and Asia/Pacific markets will also be major players in the market. – Jim Martin

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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