By Robin Gareiss, Nemertes Executive Vice President & Sr. Founding Partner
May 27, 2005

The recent announcement of the BCM 50 small-business IP PBX by Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) highlights the growing momentum of VOIP in the small-business market. Nemertes expects the small-business market to become increasingly more competitive in the next 12 months, as an increasing number of vendors begin to target this space.

VOIP adoption in small businesses currently lags adoption in enterprises as a whole. In Nemertes' recent benchmark, "Convergence: Reality at Last", 96% of overall participants said they had either implemented or planned to implement VOIP, yet only 75% of the small businesses participating were doing so. The primary goal for small businesses is cost savings, cited by 100% of participants, followed by 46% who cited
"improved communications capabilities", and 36% who cited "improved productivity."

The complete Impact Analysis is available to Nemertes clients. For more information, please contact Christine Zimmerman at christine@nemertes.com