Research: Big Moves Ahead for SIP Trunking Market

By Steve Anderson
Contributing TMCnet Writer

It's hard to doubt the extent of the session initiation protocol (SIP) trunking market, and the extent of the SIP market in general. For those who believe its gains temporary, or otherwise illusory, however, there's a new report out from Infonetics (News - Alert) Research  that shows just how far this market is poised to go. If the numbers Infonetics Research bring into play bear out into the future, the market will see some truly spectacular gains.

The Infonetics Research (News - Alert) report in question, its annual SIP Trunking Services report, spells out the numbers in grand style: in 2014 alone, the market is set to grow fully 35 percent to reach a combined total of $4.4 billion. By 2018, meanwhile, that number is expected to clear the $8 billion mark, a massive gain by most any reckoning.

Infonetics Research also offered more details about the likely market to be, projecting that the biggest market for SIP trunking services would be in North America, though other markets would quickly follow suit and provide more fuel for the SIP trunking fire. Interestingly, businesses' approach to SIP trunking would also likely help drive growth, as businesses commonly don't deploy SIP all at once. Rather, while more and more businesses are switching to SIP trunking, said businesses are deploying gradually, bringing it to one or two sites at first and then bringing it into further sites later on. Moreover, SIP trunking seems to be gaining some extra ground where it might not ordinarily see gains thanks to a unique sales strategy; SIP trunking offerings are being pitched in conjunction with hosted PBX (News - Alert) and unified communications (UC) offerings to give businesses more of a hybrid solution, a development which has been seen as increasingly desirable among potential buyers.

Infonetics Research's principal analyst for VoIP, UC, and IMS, Diane Myers, offered up a bit of comment on the market's upcoming trajectory, saying “There is no denying the world is moving to IP, and SIP has become the de facto solution of choice for businesses for IP connections. In North America, slightly more than 20 percent of the installed business trunks are SIP trunking today, with significant upside opportunity.”

This report actually shows several critical points all at the same time. While it illustrates the massive upward potential there is in the SIP trunking market, it also shows how the use of a flexible sales technique can prove helpful in advancing a new technology. Companies seem eager to bring in a hybrid system that uses SIP trunking as part of its overall mix, so those who respond to that desire accordingly are more likely to make sales. That also means an increased number of businesses total that bring in SIP trunking in some way—even as part of a hybrid solution—so that ups the total size of the market. Sales efforts, in this case, seem to have a positive impact on the entire market as a whole, which is noteworthy in and of itself. Meanwhile, we have video on this and a variety of other topics available at this link.

Adapting sales techniques to help drive the market may prove a bit of a surprise, but it's also clear that the market in general has a lot of potential upside to it. Only time will tell, of course, if the numbers projected actually bear out, but it certainly looks like the SIP trunking market will be in for quite an upward jaunt in the near-term.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi