Paris, August 4, 2003 – Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) is the market leader in sales of PBXs and IP-PBXs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) based on first quarter 2003 sales results from European independent research analyst firm Canalys. Data from Canalys also indicated that Alcatel’s shipments for the region have grown 6% over the same quarter last year and that part of this growth is from the recently announced Alcatel OmniPCX Enterprise, a solution designed to work with both traditional and Internet Phone technologies in order to smoothly address a wide variety of customers.
Alcatel’s strong 6% sales growth is even more impressive when compared to other trends detailed in the Canalys report: Overall total PBX line sales declined 6% in the EMEA region from Q1 2002 to Q1 2003. Against this backdrop, Alcatel’s share of the total EMEA PBX market increased by 2.1 points.
"Although the IT industry often promotes revolution, the more conservative telecom industry has demanded a much more evolutionary approach,” says Sandy Fitzpatrick, Canalys director and senior analyst responsible for converged telephony. “It looked at the most obvious business advantages of IP telephony – reduced call costs and unified messaging – and integrated this functionality as an option, or upgrade, to its proven PBX offerings. These hybrid IP-PBXs are then pitched as providing the best of both worlds: the reliability of the traditional PBX and investment protection around existing handsets, combined with whatever level of IP integration – full or part – the customer requires. For most, this is a far more attractive proposition.”
Canalys’ report found that 63% of the 4.1 million telephone lines shipped in EMEA in the first quarter of 2003 were attached to hybrid IP-PBX systems that allow companies to preserve the value of their legacy telecommunications investments and benefit from the enhanced functionality and cost savings of IP. Just 3% of the telephony lines sold were pure-IP systems, which require a complete changeover from traditional TDM (time-division multiplexing) telephone infrastructure.
The Alcatel OmniPCX Enterprise is already enjoying strong sales since its launch in February 2003. It is a native IP platform with a unique dual IP/TDM capability that protects customer investments in traditional telecommunications, while enabling a smooth evolution towards IP communication. Adherence to legacy and IP telephony standards assure enterprises that Alcatel solutions can integrate with existing e-business applications for an efficient total cost of ownership.
“Alcatel‘s success in the EMEA IP telephony market is due to our evolutionary offering allowing customers to decide when and where they move to IP telephony. Our commitment to this market and our strong and continued investment in these technologies have helped us to gain a leadership position in this growing market in only a short time,” says Patrick Liot, president, Alcatel Enterprise Networking.
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About Alcatel
Alcatel provides end-to-end communications solutions, enabling carriers, service providers and enterprises to deliver content to any type of user, anywhere in the world. Leveraging its long-term leadership in telecommunications network equipment as well as its expertise in applications and network services, Alcatel enables its customers to focus on optimizing their service offerings and revenue streams. With sales of EURO 16.5 billion in 2002, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com
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Alcatel Investors Relations
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