“Firstly I see 2008 as being the Year of Video. Video has been coming for years – ever since the first video phone was demonstrated at the New York World Trade Fair in the early 1960’s. In my opinion no-one has been able to crack the ergonomic code but this year video will really get off the ground floor – driven by Microsoft’s UC strategy and their Round Table product. Other vendors, like Shoretel, will take advantage and build the functionality in to their own PBX feature set.
Secondly, 2008 will also be the Year of Green ICT. Green issues will increasing form the metric for evaluating IT and phone system purchases. I know of studies soon to be published that will show green issues to be a major factor. Vendors will need to have their green credentials for heating, cooling and disposal available as customers are increasingly demanding this type of information before buying.
Lastly, I see the third trend as being more consolidation. In my opinion the two big deals of last year, Avaya/Silver Lake and Mitel/Inter-tel, will come to be seen as a tip of an iceberg. The market is cluttered and in 2008 we may be saying goodbye to some familiar faces.”