Telepresence Market Rebounds; Cisco and Polycom Lead the Way

RENO, NV, March 5, 2018

New 2017 data from Synergy Research Group shows that after a prolonged period of tough market conditions, Q3 and Q4 both saw year-on-year growth in spending on telepresence. Telepresence vendor revenues in the second half of the year grew 21% from the first half and were up 4% relative to 2016. All four regions saw growth in the latter part of the year, with APAC and Latin America doing particularly well. The market has been slowly consolidating around the two leaders, Cisco and Polycom. For the sixth consecutive quarter their combined share of the worldwide market was over 75%, while all other vendors in aggregate have been losing about a percentage point of share per year. Total telepresence vendor revenues for 2017 came in just short of $2 billion, down marginally from 2016. With pricing now more stable and demand staying reasonably robust, Synergy forecasts that the market will grow over the next five years.

“The telepresence market has been on a bumpy ride for a while driven by a mix of aggressive price competition, technology disruption and the introduction of newer, lower priced systems,” said Synergy Research Group’s founder and Chief Analyst Jeremy Duke. “Our research over the last 12 months is showing a strong indication of price stabilization and we anticipate positive revenue growth in much of the telepresence market in 2018.”