Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, enterprises have begun cutting back on IT spending due to the economic turmoil. Enterprise VoIP demand in Europe, North America, Japan, and Korea is expected to see slackening growth. In comparison, enterprise VoIP demand in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Latin America is projected to continue expanding as these markets are expected to see a more rapid economic rebound than other regions. Taiwanese makers have cultivated the enterprise VoIP sector in emerging markets for some time and are expected to benefit from the demand growth in these markets.

Taiwanese IP phone shipments are expected to be affected by the performance of major branded vendors. Due to the overall economic slump, Cisco and Nortel's orders have been decreasing over the past few quarters. Avaya's expanded orders and Alcatel-Lucent's plan to seek cooperation with Taiwanese OEM/ODM makers are expected to make only limited contributions to Taiwanese IP phone shipment.

Starting in 2007, oil price hikes and the US subprime mortgage crisis have caused the global economy to suffer, leading to considerable pressures on enterprises. It was expected that the enterprise VoIP market would be less affected by the economic turmoil, in light of the cost-saving potential posed by the application of VoIP services. Nevertheless, the continuous worsening of the global economy has caused enterprises to downsize operations and IT spending. As a result, overall enterprise VoIP equipment sales have been on the decline, and the future outlook is far from optimistic.

In the third quarter of 2008, Taiwanese IP phone shipment volume reached 1.95 million units, representing a year-on-year decline of 10.2%; enterprise VoIP gateway shipment volume arrived at 447,500 ports, growing 46.6% year-on-year. Overall Taiwanese enterprise VoIP equipment shipment value dropped 9.3% year-on-year to US$95.2 million in the third quarter. IP phone shipment value declined 13.7% in comparison with the same period last year, while enterprise VoIP gateway shipment value grew 38.9%.

Declines in Taiwanese makers' shipment volume of IP phones can be ascribed to the decrease of orders by major international vendors on the global economic slump, since Taiwanese IP phone makers mainly engage in OEM/ODM production for these vendors. In the enterprise VoIP gateway segment, Taiwanese makers' contract production for the major international vendors was at a relatively low level; at the same time, Taiwanese makers landed orders from US SIs (System Integrators) and third-tier branded vendors, while orders from the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Latin America continued to grow. Therefore, enterprise VoIP gateway shipment grew steadily in the third quarter.

More information can be found in the following MIC report:  The Taiwanese Enterprise VoIP Equipment Industry, 4Q 2008

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