This blog first appeared on Best in UC.

According to a study released by Infonetics Research, annual spending on video conferencing and telepresence systems grew by 18 percent in 2010, to $2.2 billion worldwide. What’s more, those numbers are expected to increase even more rapidly in the coming years. By 2015, the enterprise video conferencing and telepresence market will more than double to $5.0 billion in annual sales, the Infonetics study revealed.

“Communicating via video continues to be one of the top trends in telecom, as evidenced by strong growth in the enterprise video market,” said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise video at Infonetics Research.

“Businesses worldwide are looking for richer means of communications with their employees, partners, and customers, and enterprise video conferencing and telepresence solutions are a natural fit,” Machowinski added. “The biggest winners in the enterprise communications market will be those who offer solutions that are multi-modal, visual (e.g., video-based), and support the collaboration requirements of globally distributed organizations. “

These findings were buttressed by a study released by Forrester Research, which said that 29 percent of enterprises surveyed are investing in new or upgraded room-based video conferencing systems. This means that, by 2013, about two-thirds of businesses will have implemented video systems. In addition, 33 percent of responding companies said they plan to implement desktop video conferencing technology.

“The number of employees who need to communicate and collaborate with highly distributed teams will only increase as telecommuting becomes more prevalent and businesses emphasize collaborative interactions with partners and customers,” said T.J. Keitt, an analyst for Forrester.

The Infonetics report also noted that:

• Due to their versatility, multi-purpose room systems account for the majority of enterprise video conferencing equipment
• Immersive telepresence systems are expected to have the highest growth rates of all video conferencing equipment
• Thanks to their low cost and availability on PBXs, software-based endpoints out-ship hardware by 10-to-1

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1. The new convergence: UC and video conferencing
2. Does HD really matter in video conferencing?
3. LifeSize Bridge – video conferencing that’s affordable and scalable
4. Vivu telepresence product to be compatible with Polycom, LifeSize and other video endpoints
5. Where is Unified Communications Headed? Insight from key industry experts.