Enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence equipment showed positive results in the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14), with overall revenue increasing 15.8 per cent quarter over quarter and 4.0 per cent year over year.
IDC reports that total worldwide enterprise video equipment market revenue in 4Q14 was $613 million, up from $529 million in 3Q14 while the total number of videoconferencing units sold in 4Q14 increased 15.7 per cent quarter over quarter and 25 per cent year over year.
For the full year 2014, revenue declined -6.8 per cent versus 2013, the third consecutive year of decreasing full-year revenue in this market.
"Although the worldwide videoconferencing equipment market enjoyed positive quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year revenue growth in some market segments in 4Q14, overall the market experienced its third consecutive year of declining revenue in the full-year 2014," says Rich Costello, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, IDC.
"The results are reflective of the ongoing market transition from a primarily hardware-based technology to one impacted by the growing interest in software-based solutions and video subscription services."
From a market segment perspective in 4Q14, multi-codec telepresence equipment revenue ($32 million) declined -6.9 per cent quarter over quarter and -19.4 per cent year over year.
Meanwhile, room-based video system revenue ($388 million) increased 11.8 per cent quarter over quarter and 12.6 per cent year over year, and personal videoconferencing systems revenue ($57 million) – including executive desktop systems – increased significantly, 64.8 per cent quarter over quarter and 25.4 per cent year over year.
Furthermore, video infrastructure equipment revenue ($136 million) - including MCUs and other video-related infrastructure – increased 19.9 per cent quarter over quarter, but declined -14.9% year over year.
Regionally in 4Q14, in Asia/Pacific, revenue increased 12.2 per cent quarter over quarter and 5.4 per cent year over year.
Vendors
Cisco's 4Q14 results showed a 15.6 per cent revenue increase quarter over quarter, but a year-over-year decline of -3.6 per cent - Cisco remained the leader in enterprise videoconferencing equipment with a 41.3 per cent share of the worldwide market, on par with its 41.4 per cent share in 3Q14.
Polycom's revenue increased 2.4 per cent quarter over quarter, but decreased -1.2 per cent year over year in 4Q14 - Polycom ranked second in enterprise videoconferencing equipment with a 23.8 per cent share of the worldwide market, down from 26.9 per cent in 3Q14.
Huawei's revenue increased significantly both quarter over quarter (70.3 per cent) and year over year (51.8 per cent) in 4Q14 - Huawei ranked third with a 15.9 per cent share of the worldwide enterprise videoconferencing market, up from 10.8 per cent in 3Q14.
”IDC survey adoption data indicates that video continues to be a key component of collaboration and places high on the list of priorities for many organisations," adds Petr Jirovsky, Research Manager, Worldwide Networking Trackers.
"IDC believes that among the challenges customers are currently working through are determining exactly when and how to provision their video deployments as more software-centric and Cloud-based service offerings become part of the enterprise video market landscape."
