41% of All Enterprise Communications Application Users Worldwide to Migrate to the Cloud by 2016

​In the rapidly evolving enterprise communications market, CPE vendors confront imminent erosion in their installed base as cloud services gain traction across the public, private, and hybrid cloud domains. By 2016, 41% of all enterprise communications users, or 386 million lines/seats, will be on virtual infrastructure, posing a serious danger to the CPE market. “For CPE vendors, the cloud threat is real,” says senior analyst Subha Rama. “By 2016, the communications CPE market will only grow 4.3%, while cloud communications will grow by over 21%, reaching $8 billion in revenues.”

Smaller vendors with point solutions will see cloud services rapidly displace their installed bases. Large vendors are becoming cloud providers or key enablers as well. However, many of the CPE solutions are simply not cloud ready and will see performance downgrades when virtualized.

There are three prominent forces influencing cloud migration:
1)    The growing adoption of data center architectures and virtualization technologies
2)    The need to integrate multiple applications to deliver the connected experience to users across different devices, including smartphones and media tablets
3)    The promise of lower costs and increased efficiencies from standardized platforms and processes in the cloud

Enterprises are adopting a non-linear approach to cloud migration; while certain applications undergo experimentation, others are retained on premises. Mixed environments and hybridization are becoming the norm, especially with larger enterprises. However, the technology to manage hybrid clouds and to enable seamless movement of applications instances across different vendor clouds is in its infancy.

“Enterprise mobilization is also driving migration to the cloud,” says practice director Dan Shey. “Cloud applications ease application delivery for businesses that are increasingly relying on access across fixed and mobile endpoints.”

The “Enterprise Cloud Applications and Vertical Analysis” report offers extensive review of the migration of premise-based communications access to the cloud. Central to the analysis is quantifying the rate of CPE displacement by cloud services. Market forecasts are provided for four implementation types—CPE, private, public, and hybrid clouds—for each application type: telephony, email and collaboration, audio conferencing, web conferencing, video conferencing, and UC.

It is part of the Enterprise Mobility research service.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 27 research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com or call +1.516.624.2500.