In a finding that will surprise many suppliers of traditional telephony gear and services, a research firm has concluded that open-source systems make up nearly one-fifth of all sales of enterprise PBXs.
“We conclude that in 2008, 2.86 million open source PBX end points were installed,” wrote John Malone, CEO of telecom consultancy Eastern Management Group in an article summarizing the report findings on No Jitter. “The total market was 15.88 million lines, giving Open Source PBXs an 18% share.”
Entitled “The Market for Open Source PBXs,” the study is based on three surveys: one of 6,734 IT executives, one of open-source PBX vendors, and the third of 100 telecom resellers.
“A market shift is underway, and has been since Open Source PBXs arrived,” the report concluded. “Traditional telephone system manufacturers are now, largely unknowingly, competing for a bigger share of a shrinking market.”