2/3/2009 -- While uncertainty abounds in many markets, the IP contact center (IPCC) segment is looking pretty good, thanks to the efforts of Cisco Systems Inc., Avaya Inc., Alcatel-Lucent and Nortel Networks.

And that's not all: Market watchers said the IPCC market grew at a healthy 37 percent clip in 2008, with Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent growing their respective shares -- chiefly at market-leader Avaya's expense in 2007.

To be sure, the worsening economic crisis will affect the IPCC market, market watcher Infonetics Research conceded, but IPCC sales will fare better than sales of other technologies.

"The communicator market continues to be fluid, with growth not yet following established patterns and market share positions shifting one period to the next as PBX vendors battle each other and Microsoft. It's an exciting market to watch, and one that should thrive in 2009, even as the overall enterprise telephony market declines due to the economic environment," said Matthias Machowinski, Infonetics Research's directing analyst for enterprise voice and data, in a statement " Similarly, the IPCC market will slow down in 2009, but should do relatively well as customers find IP contact centers, self service and automation cost-effective ways to deliver on customer service."

Avaya remains the runaway IPCC market leader, Infonetics reported, but both Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent managed to cut into its share in 2008. Both vendors hope to consolidate and expand those gains in 2009.

Elsewhere, Nortel snagged the lead for total unified messaging licenses, and Avaya led in overall unified messaging revenues (with Nortel second). Significantly, Cisco improved its position to finish third in both segments. --Stephen Swoyer