Cedar Knolls, NJ (June 1, 2010)– T3i Group’s latest InfoTrack for Converged Applications (ICA) research on voice mail and unified messaging (UM) found total global mailbox shipments decreased by more than 7 million during 2009, down 25.5% compared to 2008. Manufacturer revenue dropped even more sharply, declining 26.7%, a decrease of $316 million. The state of the economy drove enterprises to continue cost cutting including shedding jobs and postponing technology investments in the first half of the calendar year. There were some signs of life in the second half of 2009 with a 7% growth in mailboxes and a 14% growth in manufacturer revenue.

According to the ICA report, Full Year 2009 Global Messaging Mailbox and System Shipments, UM shipments, while dropping 7.8% in mailboxes and 12% in revenues, were the one bright spot. Global acceptance of UM, as measured by the percentage of total mailboxes, increased by 5.2 percentage points. While prices eroded for both VM and UM, the combination of improved UM penetration with its higher-priced mailboxes mitigated the rate of decline in total messaging industry revenue.

As pull through from sales of telephony systems eroded, other strategies bolstered messaging sales including, cost effective bundling with other applications, integrating messaging in managed services, bundling with Unified Communications packages, reducing prices and selling messaging solutions separately from telephony. Manufacturers also reported that UM on mobile devices has been a significant driver of UM sales.

Avaya led in global shipments and revenue followed by Cisco. Uncertainty around the fate of Nortel drove a severe downturn in its messaging business, with shipments declining almost 60%. Only three manufacturers -- Siemens, ShoreTel and Panasonic -- increased their global shipments during 2009. In order to provide a more complete view of the market, T3i Group estimated shipments of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 UM licenses and revenue in all regions for this report.

All global regions experienced shipment declines, with CALA (Caribbean Latin America) down 34%, North America down 33% and APAC (Asia Pacific) down 17%. EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) declined only 14%. The US lost 5 percentage points in global market share, due in part to Nortel’s losses. EMEA increased its global market share by 5 percentage points.

“The story in 2009 was the economy. Job cuts, fewer people needing messaging, revenue losses and deferred investment decisions drove customer spending plans,” said Ken Dolsky, Senior Program Director at T3i Group. “Based on indicators such as forecasted business investment, GDP and IT spending, we do not see a return to 2008 shipment and revenue levels before 2014.”

About the InfoTrack for Converged Applications (ICA) Program

InfoTrack for Converged Applications (ICA) analyzes and forecasts UC application shipments, installed base, revenues and share globally and regionally by size segments. Separate programs address Messaging, Contact Center and Interactive Voice Response. For more information about the ICA program or about Full Year 2009 Global Messaging Mailbox and System Shipments, please visit http://www.t3igroup.com/products/infotrack/ or contact Bonnie Fairbrother, bfairbrother@t3igroup.com, 973-602-0181.

About T3i Group LLC

T3i Group LLC provides market research, data, analysis, and consulting and advisory services to the telecommunications industry. It has clients in 46 countries and conducts its business through four operating units: InfoTrack publishes reports that analyze shipment, revenue, market share and other pertinent data of importance to telecommunications equipment manufacturers; TelecomTactics maintains a database of the features and functionality of major telephony systems, collaboration products/services and Unified Communications clients; Tarifica maintains a database of pricing-related information covering 400 telecommunications carriers operating in 130 countries T3i Group’s website www.t3igroup.com serves as T3i Group’s primary delivery mechanism for distributing its reports, analyses and data to subscribers.

T3i Group LLC is headquartered in Cedar Knolls, N.J; with additional locations in New York City and London.

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