Microsoft continues to increase its share of the enterprise voice and unified communications application markets, according to data from Synergy Research Group.
The research firm finds that in the fourth quarter of 2012, Microsoft’s share of the worldwide enterprise IP telephony market had risen to almost 3%, while its share of the UC applications market had reached almost 18%.
Synergy said that while a 3% share may not seem like much of an impact, Microsoft’s growth is being achieved in a mature market which has been in decline.
Last year, worldwide revenues for enterprise IP telephony fell by more than 6%, while Microsoft grew its revenue in the segment by more than 40%.
In UC applications, the software giant is now the clear No. 2 in the market, distancing itself from third-ranked Avaya and closing the gap with market leader Cisco.
“Microsoft is making a big impact on the market, especially in large deployments with 1,000-plus seats” says Jeremy Duke, Synergy Research Group’s founder and chief analyst.