Western European Hosted VoIP Services, 2004-2010

This study presents IDC's forecast of the European hosted IP voice services market. Hosted IP voice services include IP Centrex and hosted IP PBX and are an alternative to premises-based business telephone systems. Hosted VoIP represents an opportunity to eliminate redundant infrastructure, manage all voice and data communications via a single Internet network with a single provider, and deploy the same telephony solution in every branch office. "One way of promoting hosted solutions is to focus on the increased functionality on offer (especially in the case of hosted IP PBX), or by drawing attention to cost considerations such as replacing capex with predictable opex," said Chris Barnard, research director, European Telecoms and Networking. "A hosted solution offers customers access to the latest software releases, for example security updates. The method of payment ? a fixed monthly payment per seat over a contract period of usually three to five years ? also appeals to companies trying to drive down communication costs."