A new report from Infonetics Research says some softness materialized in the otherwise healthy service provider VoIP equipment market in the second quarter of 2008. The overall worldwide market is down 4 percent, led by double-digit declines in the session border controller (SBC) and softswitch segments.
The research shows the SBC segment posted its first sequential decline ever, dropping 14% from the first quarter to the second quarter.
Despite that news, the overall market is up 3 percent from a year ago, led by strong year-over-year gains in the SBC, media server and softswitch segments.
"While down in the first half of 2008, we expect the carrier VoIP equipment market to bounce back in the second half, ending the year on a positive note,” said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research. “The 5-year outlook looks good as well, as demand for VoIP networking gear continues unabated, driven by a long term migration from circuit switched to packet telephony. Similarly, while the session border controller segment saw its first sequential decline this quarter ─ due to a pause in deployments in North America and Europe where large service providers are maxing out their installed base rather than purchasing new equipment ─ we expect it to pick up nicely in the second half of the year.”
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