Mitel (News - Alert), a provider of cloud and software-based unified communications solutions, has reported significant growth in the Netherlands, allowing it to claim the top market position in the region during the first half of 2013 in the PBX (News - Alert) and IP PBX market. Mitel managed to grow from 22 percent share in Q1 to 31 percent in Q2 in terms of IP extension shipments, according to data gathered by research firm MZA.
This is a somewhat surprising development, considering the state of the overall enterprise PBX market — including TDM, hybrid and pure IP PBXs — during the first half of 2013. According to recent data from Infonetics Research, worldwide enterprise PBX revenue fell 9 percent in the second quarter as compared to the same period in 2012 to sit at $1.81 billion. This can apparently be traced back to slower demand and competitive pricing pressure.
Still, there are often outliers, Mitel obviously being one in this case. According to MZA’s general manager Stephanie Watson, Mitel has been able to thrive in the Netherlands so far this year on the strength of its innovation and its single software approach.
"Competition is driving innovation adoption in the Netherlands where vendors are aggressively leveraging new features and deployment options to win business," said Watson. "Mitel's ability to consistently innovate, coupled with a full suite of UC applications and a single software approach that allows customers to easily adjust as their business and technology evolves, is resonating extremely well in this market and has helped differentiate and propel Mitel to the No. 1 market share position."
In particular, key projects have played a major role for Mitel in the Netherlands. The Dutch OT2010 program, for example, is an eight-year project to upgrade communications systems across 100 Dutch government departments through the deployment of 100,000 IP ports. In order to secure this contract, Mitel had to prove that its portfolio could meet certain criteria for service and security.
Edited by Alisen Downey