UCaaS Market Grew 22 Percent in Q2 2013

The cloud computing market has reported strong growth over the last couple of years. Unified Communications (News - Alert) as a Service (UCaaS) is one of the branches of cloud computing that is gaining popularity quickly. UCaaS delivers a comprehensive suite of managed per seat services that incorporate voice, multimedia, presence management, mobility and automation services onto a single unified platform.

According to a new Q2 data from Synergy Research Group, the cloud UCaaS market as a whole grew 22 percent year-on-year in Q2 of 2013.

The two UCaaS players that led the growth of the market are Vocalocity and ShoreTel, which generated annual revenue growth of 45 percent and 37 percent respectively.

Companies like iCore, RingCentral (News - Alert) and 8x8 saw year-on-year revenue growth in the 18 percent-22 percent range.

Together, the six market leaders accounted for 54 percent of total quarterly UCaaS revenue, with 8x8 (News - Alert) maintaining its overall market share lead at 15 percent, the report said.

Apart from North America, strong growth of UCaaS is expected in EMEA and APAC regions, which currently account for 49 percent of traditional UC and enterprise voice revenue but only 13 percent of UCaaS revenue.

Says Synergy Research Group's founder and chief analyst Jeremy Duke, "Operators such as Telstra and Orange (News - Alert) are becoming increasingly active in these regions and UCaaS is becoming more accepted as a reliable, secure and economically compelling business communications solution."

Among the segments, public cloud service offerings accounted for 52 percent of quarterly UCaaS revenue and private cloud accounted for 30 percent. Premises and hybrid cloud and contact center SaaS (News - Alert) contributed for the remaining share of the market.

North America continues to account for more than 85 percent of worldwide revenue due to the under-developed nature of the market in other regions.

Another recent report on cloud computing market by Market Monitor said the market is expected to register a 36 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue, making it just shy of $20 billion at the end of 2016.


Edited by Rachel Ramsey