Eastern Management's Open Source Follow-upEastern Management's Open Source Follow-up

55% of open source PBX implementers are repeat customers.

John Malone of Eastern Management Group made quite a splash when he authored a feature for No Jitter earlier this year, in which he laid out Eastern Management's research concluding that open source represented 18% of the IP-PBX market. Now John and Eastern Management have a followup study that shows the market deepening.The new Eastern Management research finds that 55% of open source PBX implementers are repeat customers, i.e., they already have implemented open source PBX somewhere within the enterprise. When I spoke with John this morning he told me that the typical scenario is that a company starts with a pilot or very small implementation in one location, then expands the effort as the system proves in.

That would seem to be confirmed by more data in the Eastern Management study, namely that the typical installation for repeat customers is 62 stations. John's earlier study found that, for the market as a whole, 75% of installations were 50 stations or fewer, so customers seem to be comfortable with bigger installations as they get more experience with open source.

John's at work now on a follow-up feature for No Jitter based on some of the detailed findings of his latest research; next week we'll be publishing an article from John looking at some of the specifics for open source implementation within different vertical industries.

You can get more information on the study by going to Eastern Management's website.55% of open source PBX implementers are repeat customers.