Unified Communications Featured Article

Up-and-Coming UC Vendor Targets Small Businesses

By Casey Houser
Contributing Writer

A leading unified communications vendor is besting its competitors by targeting high-end carriers and competitive over-the-top carriers that cater to the needs of small businesses.

BroadSoft (News - Alert) recently beat analyst estimates of its possible earnings for this year by posting earnings of $1.7 million in the second quarter. Its total revenue for the quarter reached $52.5 million which marks an increase of 19 percent over the same time last year when it brought in $44 million in Q2 2013. According to information provided by Light Reading (News - Alert), the most recent financial mark represents BroadSoft's highest-ever quarterly result.

Light Reading's analysis of the issue points to Jefferies & Co. Equity Analyst, George Notter. He notes that BroadSoft is finding its way through a competitive market against industry foes such as Cisco (News - Alert) by carving a niche in a market that connects with small businesses. It is reportedly working with players such as 8x8 and Ring Central.

Although there is hesitancy in the market to allow up-and-coming vendors to compete with the established entities of the day, BroadSoft is finding a way to make itself known, and it is reportedly forcing its larger competition to adopt some of the technologies it is pushing forward. This includes SIP trunking and hosted UC -- technologies that are fresh on the market and are undercutting some of the traditional communications technologies enterprises once favored.

There is a lot of growth potential in VoIP and UC markets, Notter says, because only about 10 percent to 15 percent of businesses and consumers readily use the technologies as their means of communication. This will not come without battles from home-grown products built on frameworks such as WebRTC -- which allow businesses to produce quality video and audio communications between any supported Web browsers -- but research suggests that UC will continue to grow through 2018.

BroadSoft is working with service providers to expand its offerings and help such providers remain relevant with their own WebRTC, VoLTE, and UC products that can compete against OTT entities already relevant in the market. It also recently acquired Systems Design & Development to expand its products into the hospitality industry.