Report: Telepresence sales will hit $2.7 billion in 2015

Say what you want about the economy effecting business spending, telepresence was still a hot sales item in 2009. According to the latest report from ABI Research telepresence hardware, software and services sales grew to $567 million and the market was filled with M+A action.

"Nearly any size company has access to telepresence and video conferencing services," says David Lemelin, director of the Enterprise Communications Research Service in the release. "Suppliers are helping businesses transition to telepresence by introducing personal and room-based HD video conferencing solutions. Telepresence room rentals are also on the rise."

Although finding growth in this industry is exciting, it looks like this latest report is a little more like a scaling back of expectations. In the release, ABI forecasts 2015 sales to be $2.7 billion globally but a previous report from another firm had even higher figures. In August, Frost and Sullivan released a report claiming that they saw telepresence as a $4.7 billion global industry just four years from now. They found the Asia-Pacific region would be a major growth market for telepresence and would account for more than one-third of the total market--$1.7 billion in revenues. The Frost and Sullivan number is revenue rather than sales, but it's still something to keep an eye on.

For more:
- read the ABI release

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