Eight Years at the Top: NEC Continues to be the Global Leader in SMB Phone Systems

Investment in Comprehensive Product Portfolio, Ongoing Innovation and Strong Business Relationships Propel NEC’s Success

TOKYO & IRVING, Texas & HILVERSUM, Netherlands–(BUSINESS WIRE)–NEC, a global leader in communications and IT solutions, announced today that it has been recognized as the number one provider of small and medium business (SMB) phone systems for eight consecutive years, and as number two globally in the overall unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) segment. This achievement highlights the strength of NEC’s portfolio, the company’s commitment to expanding its global enterprise presence, and its ability to fully satisfy customers.

NEC has a rich history in communications and remains committed to providing cloud, hybrid or on-premise unified communications solutions for small and medium-sized businesses and enterprises. At the core of its offerings is the UNIVERGE^� communications portfolio including the SL, SV and UNIVERGE 3C^® premise-based communication servers as well as the UNIVERGE BLUE^® cloud/hybrid offering.

“The way NEC looks at the world, it is about supporting our customers through their communications lifecycle and delivering value regardless of whether they are using on-premise solutions, moving to a hybrid solution, or migrating to the cloud, future-proofing them at the same time,” said Ram Menghani, President, NEC Enterprise Communications Technology.

Global Expansion

MZA’s (www.mzaconsultants.com) reporting on the global Call Control market (excluding Multi-Tenant UCaaS voice solutions) shows that NEC has led all vendors in global shipments in the SMB segment (less than 100 licenses) for the last eight years^*. With a present market share of 16 percent as reported as a Rolling Annual Total as per the third quarter of 2022, NEC is well ahead of all other companies in that segment.

“MZA’s recent report once again highlights our success as a leader in business communications,” said Al Kelley, Vice President, Channel Sales, Americas at NEC. “It is a clear recognition of the strength of our offerings and the ability to serve together with our business partners and our customers worldwide with excellent solutions and services that truly assist with communications challenges our customers are facing today and in the future. The global expansion of our UNIVERGE BLUE CLOUD SERVICES (UCaaS and CCaaS) complements our on-premise portfolio and provides options to our business partners and customers to utilize these services as desired. Moreover, UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT BRIDGE provides on-premise customers an easy path to a hybrid cloud or full cloud solution, providing investment protection and value of digital transformation,” he added.

Powerful UCaaS and CCaaS Cloud Offering

Building on its global relationship with Intermedia, a dedicated cloud communications company, NEC’s UNIVERGE BLUE is one of the most comprehensive and powerful UCaaS and CCaaS cloud platform offerings available on the market. It offers a range of features including telephony, video conferencing, collaboration, backup, security, file sharing and contact center capabilities within a single solution. Businesses can take advantage of monthly billing and only pay for what they use, with full flexibility to scale up as needed.

Dynamic Delivery of Cloud Solutions in a Hybrid Model

Hybrid work and flexible deployment models are now the preferred choice for many businesses. By aligning their resources with current business requirements and taking advantage of scalable cloud solutions, they are able to open up opportunities for integration with business applications. While enterprises shift more workload to the public cloud, strong demand remains to leverage existing infrastructure.

UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT BRIDGE extends on-premise business phone systems to the cloud via mobile and desktop applications while also adding chat, video conferencing, file sharing and collaboration capabilities. The result is an integrated, all-in-one, UCaaS offering that affords NEC customers the flexibility to communicate and collaborate from anywhere, extends the life and capabilities of their current NEC phone system, and allows them to keep their existing hardware and phone number and migrate gradually as required.

The Customer has Full Freedom of Choice

As a result, NEC customers now have the flexibility to choose from a range of solutions, including a fully on-premise infrastructure, a 100 percent public cloud subscription-based solution, or any combination between the two in a hybrid working model. As NEC covers all bases and offers a full range of choices – on-premise, cloud, or hybrid – this ensures NEC and its business partners can provide what’s best for each end customer.

“One thing is clear; we are here to stay. Whether the preference is on-premise, cloud-based or a hybrid business model, our focus is on providing customers the freedom of choice with a spectrum of highly integrated, customizable solutions and services. With our strong foothold in the on-premise call control market and the flexibility we provide customers to add the newest cloud services to support their increasingly hybrid workforce, I look forward to prolonging our market leadership and celebrating the 10^th anniversary of our market-leading position two years from now,” Kelley concludes.

* Source MZA Call Control (PBX-IP PBX) Market Reports 2015-2022

About NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com

NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Other product or service marks mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. ©2023 NEC Corporation.

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Contacts

EMEA – Robert Van Amerongen, NEC Enterprise Solutions, Robert.van.Amerongen@EMEA.NEC.COM
Japan and Rest of World – Joseph Jasper, NEC Corporation, j-jasper@nec.com