North American PBX Shipments Strong, MZA ReportsNorth American PBX Shipments Strong, MZA Reports

But Europe is still pulling the overall global market lower. Also, NEC unseats Avaya in the number-two spot worldwide, says MZA.

We recently posed the question, The PBX Market: How Bad Is It Really?, and we concluded that, based on an Infonetics report, it's a mixed bag: Bad in Europe, not so bad in North America. Now UK-based researchers MZA are out with their own report with much the same conclusion--at least in terms of shipments.

According to MZA, the North American PBX market, measured by combined TDM and IP extension shipments, grew an impressive 11% year-over-year in 1Q2013, with the over-100-line market beating that number, with 15% Y/Y growth.

So that's the good news; the bad news comes from Western Europe, Middle East and Africa, where double-digit declines Y/Y drove the overall global PBX market into negative territory. The total global market fell 3% Y/Y in 1Q2013, according to MZA.

More good news/bad news: Good news for NEC, which seized the #2 spot in global PBX shipments with 14% share of extension capacity worldwide, just one point behind leader Cisco's 15% global market share. The bad news belongs to Avaya, which fell from second to third place, with 12% share. MZA ascribed NEC's rise to strong gains in its home market of Japan.

Further good news for NEC: They gained 3 percentage points in the sub-100-station PBX market to grab the worldwide lead with 18% market share, surpassing Panasonic's 12%.

Consolation for Avaya: They held onto second position in the 100-station-plus PBX market worldwide, but lost 1 point of share, falling to 12%. Cisco gained 4% to increase its market share leadership at 26% in the 100-plus market.

So the picture that emerges is of a North American market on the mend (Infonetics) or even on the rebound (MZA), while Europe continues to put a drag on the world market.

An important caveat: MZA released figures only for extension shipments, not revenues, so there's nothing in their report to make vendors necessarily feel better about their financial prospects--indeed, the price reductions that Infonetics cited may well be driving the gains in shipments that both firms are observing in North America.

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