Small firms ring changes with hosted VoIP

US hosted VoIP seats will grow steadily to over three million by 2010

The hosted VoIP telephony market has experienced another year of steady growth fuelled by fast growing demand from small businesses, research has found.

A report from In-Stat stated that hosted VoIP will continue to experience dynamic growth over the next few years, with projected revenues exceeding $2bn by 2010.

The analyst firm noted that the "sweet spot" in the VoIP market is currently filled by deployments in the 20 to 50 seat range.

"As managers assess their ability to deploy and manage enterprise-like VoIP services, many are finding that they lack the capital and expertise required," said In-Stat analyst David Lemelin. "As a result, hosted VoIP solutions are becoming more attractive."

A recently published In-Stat research paper predicted that US hosted VoIP seats in service will continue to grow steadily to over three million in 2010, up from 373,000 in 2006.

Cost savings remain the primary attraction for hosted VoIP solutions, but multi-location businesses and those with mobile or distributed employees are most attracted to hosted VoIP solutions.

• Skype adds lie detector to VoIP service
• US Vonage users get VoIP emergency lifeline
• India considers ban on unlicensed VoIP
• UK small firms wake up to converged comms