Investment in enterprise telephony remained restricted in EMEA in Q3 2009, with call control line shipments down 17.5% compared with the same period in 2008. The rate of contraction, however, is slowing when compared with previous quarters. Volume declined 21.5% in Q1, while Q2 was down 18.6%. In total, 4.8 million lines were shipped in the quarter, a 4.4% sequential increase. IP line penetration increased to 40%, up from 35% one year earlier, as businesses continued to replace aging TDM infrastructure and expand trial projects. Aggressive cash-back, fixed price, minimum spend and competitor trade-in promotions, as well as 0% financing offers have helped prevent greater reductions in shipments during 2009.

Alcatel-Lucent, Siemens and Aastra continue to lead in EMEA, with Cisco gaining ground. ‘Alcatel-Lucent has been a stable performer in the region over the last eight quarters, overtaking Siemens as the market leader in 2008,’ said Alex Smith, a Research Analyst at Canalys. ‘During the recession, it has managed to maintain its market share, though its Q3 shipments were hit by the holiday season in its core markets, particularly France, Spain and Italy,’ Smith added. Siemens, which is now jointly owned by the Gores Group and Siemens AG, remained the second largest vendor with a market share of 13.5%, though this has steadily eroded over the last two years. Overall, Siemens is continuing to invest in growing its indirect business, but shifting direct accounts to the channel will take time. In September, it announced plans to accelerate this process by selling its direct sales organisations in 27 non-core countries to Netlink, a deal worth €204 million ($308 million), more than the original €175 million ($275 million) the Gores Group paid Siemens AG for its 51% stake in the overall business. Aastra was the third largest vendor in the region, with a market share of 13.0%. During the quarter, Aastra benefited from competitor cash-back trade-in promotions in France, while investment in direct-touch activities helped it improve its German business.

Cisco continued to grow its market share during the recession, primarily driven by gains in Western Europe, particularly in Germany where it has invested heavily in marketing and sales resources. Cisco has not been immune to year-on-year declines. It accounted for 11.6% of total shipments, compared with 11.2% in Q2 and 10.3% in Q3 2008. Its entrance into the server market, and the resulting moves by IBM and HP to expand their own networking, security and UC portfolios through acquisitions and vendor alliances, will present it with some difficult challenges around routes to market in the future. Avaya, which grew its shipments by 4.2% over Q2 with strong sales in the UK, catalysed by the release of IP Office R5, won the auction for the Nortel Enterprise business. The new entity has the potential to emerge as the leading vendor in EMEA, though very rarely do the combined shipments of two companies post-merger equal those of the separate entities pre-merger.

Aastra announced that its latest generation of DECT handsets, as well as its new Wi-Fi phone, are now shipping in the United States.

Designed with the professional's needs in mind, the new 600d line of DECT phones helps businesses keep their workforce more responsive and productive while on the move. With its high quality and confidential calls through voice optimization, DECT offers a cost-effective mobility solution for companies that need to supply wireless phones to staff primarily mobile within the company premise, making it especially suitable for vertical markets such as education, healthcare or retail.

All three of the new 600d SIP DECT phones benefit from a wealth of features similar to a mobile phone making the adoption of these handsets very intuitive: large display combined with navigation keys and the user-friendly menu, extensive directories with multiple entries and multiple user profiles ring tone assignment. Other features specifically respond to professional requirements: an ambient noise filter and self adjusting ring tone level for loud environments, drop resilience and ergonomical design.

The Aastra 610d is an entry level handset with a large monochrome back-lit display and hands free use. With a dustproof case the phone is ideal for those working in environments such as warehouses or industrial workshops. The Aastra 620d and 630d DECT handsets feature an illuminated two inch graphic color display and eight additional programmable keys to make line control and navigation easier. The phones support Bluetooth® headsets and have extended battery life. With its robust, ruggedized cases, the Aastra 630d DECT handset also boasts an emergency key and a 'man down' feature that can alert other users when no movement is registered, making the handsets particularly useful for workers in industrial environments or for security staff. The handset's water jet proof design makes it useful for the healthcare industry too as the phone can be easily and safely wiped with disinfectant.

Designed to work with existing WLAN networks, the Aastra 312w offers a powerful, flexible, feature rich SIP handset that is supported on a wide variety of Access Points and Call Control platforms. Suitable for small, medium and large enterprise environments, the Aastra 312w increases business productivity by providing secure and seamless voice services for mobile workforces.

With handset features such as high resolution large color display, hands free operation, headset jack, vibrating alert and removable memory card, the Aastra 312w offers a very affordable and scalable mobility solution for any business requirement.

"As a leading provider of business communication solutions, Aastra is in tune with the increasing market demand for mobility solutions. Enterprises need solutions that keep workers productive while they move throughout the campus, without incurring skyrocketing cellular costs. These latest additions to our portfolio address both those issues," said Tim Whittington, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Aastra USA.

Sales for the three months ended June 30, 2009 were $197.2 million compared to $205.8 million for the same quarter in 2008, a decrease of 4.2%. The Company's sales results for the second quarter of last year include two months of revenue from the acquisition of the Ericsson Enterprise Communications Business which closed on April 30, 2008.  On a sequential basis, sales decreased by 10.1% from sales of $219.3 million in the first quarter of this year as a result of the weak economic conditions experienced in several markets.

Gross margin was 45.6% of sales in the quarter compared to 42.5% of sales in the same period in 2008 and 48.0% of sales in the first quarter of 2009. Research and development expenses in the second quarter were $21.8 million or 11.1% of sales, compared to $26.8 million or 13.0% of sales in the same quarter of 2008.
Selling, general and administrative expenses were $56.0 million or 28.4% of sales in the second quarter compared to $53.2 million or 25.8% of sales in the second quarter of 2008.  As a percentage of sales, SG&A expenses increased over the same period last year as operating costs could not be reduced as quickly as the decline in sales that was experienced during the quarter.

Amortization expense recorded in operating expenses was $5.6 million in the second quarter compared to $6.2 million in the same period last year.  The Company recorded interest expense of $0.2 million in the second quarter this year compared to $0.6 million in the second quarter of 2008 as a result of both lower interest rates and a lower long-term debt balance. Losses from foreign exchange were $0.3 million in the second quarter of 2009 compared to a foreign exchange gain of $1.2 million in the second quarter of 2008, due to the strengthening of the Canadian dollar compared to the Euro and U.S. dollar during the second quarter this year.

Investment income totaled $0.7 million in second quarter compared to $0.8 million in the same quarter of 2008. While the investment income earned on excess cash in the quarter has decreased sharply compared to last year, the Company earned a higher amount of financing income on its leasing business.  Income tax expense was $1.2 million or 18.2% of pre-tax income compared to $0.4 million or 15.5% of pre-tax income in the same period last year.  

As a result, net income for the second quarter was $5.5 million or $0.40 diluted earnings per share compared to $2.1 million or $0.13 diluted earnings per share in the same period last year.

Aastra has launched a new range of stylish DECT handsets tailored for the needs of businesses of all sizes. According to research published by Frost & Sullivan the emergence of SIP DECT products and advanced feature DECT handsets is driving the growth of this market, that could reach $318 million by 2014 , and offers opportunities for growth in untapped markets.

Designed with the professional needs in mind, the new 600d line of DECT phones helps businesses keep their workforce more responsive and productive while on the move. With its high quality and confidential calls through voice optimisation, DECT offers a cost-effective mobility solution for companies that need to supply mobile phones to staff primarily mobile within the company premises (making it especially suitable for vertical markets such as education, healthcare or retail).

The new 600d DECT phones benefit from a wealth of features similar to mobile phone making the adoption of these handsets very intuitive:  large display combined with navigation key and the user-friendly menu for easy navigation, extensive directories with multiple entries, multiple user profiles ring tone assignment, user profile hotkeys.  Other features specifically respond to professional requirements: an ambient noise filter and self adjusting ring tone level for loud environments, drop resilience and ergonomical design. Businesses will benefit from automatic firmware updates that can reduce maintenance costs and remove the need for IT staff to manually update handsets with the latest firmware. The handsets can also be deployed in an IP environment as the new 600d phones are all SIP DECT.

There are three handsets within the new range. The Aastra 610d DECT entry level handset provides all the key features appreciated by professionals including a large monochrome back-lit display and hands free use. With a dustproof case the phone is ideal for those working in environments such as warehouses, industry or workshops.

The Aastra 620d and 630d DECT handsets feature an illuminated two inch graphic colour displays and eight additional programmable keys to make line control and navigation easier. The phones support Bluetooth® headsets and have extended battery life (up to 24h talk time with the Power Battery). With its robust, ruggedized cases, the Aastra 630d DECT handset also boasts an emergency key and a ‘man down’ feature that can alert other users when no movement is registered, making the handsets particularly useful for workers in industrial environments or for security staff. The handset’s water jet proof design makes it useful for the healthcare industry too as the phone can be easily and safely wiped with disinfectant.

”As a leading provider of business communication solutions, Aastra offers a complete range of mobility: from fixed-mobile convergence, to WLAN handsets, IP DECT and DECT handsets. With ensured security, superior speech quality and cost-effectiveness, DECT remains a proven and best selling mobility technology for in-house use especially in the very competitive European markets. DECT technology has also been gaining increased interest in other regions around the world,“ said Henning Gmerek, Product Manager, responsible for this new range of handsets.

The new handsets, which are designed for global use, come with a deep integration for the range of Aastra’s PBX systems (such as the Aastra 5000, 800, IntelliGate 150 & 300, NeXspan, OpenCom 1000 and 100). The Aastra 610d and 620d DECT handsets are now shipping.  Advanced orders for the Aastra 630d can be placed now with an expected ship date of June 2009.