Here's Who Made Gartner's 2016 Magic Quadrant For Group Video Systems

Video In State Of Innovation And Transition

The enterprise video systems market is in a state of innovation and transition this year as businesses are seeking higher reliability, availability and performance.

Enterprises are looking to spend less on video networking, managed services and supporting infrastructure, which is forcing vendors to converge web and videoconferencing solutions and create virtualized infrastructure – opening the door to cloud-based Infrastructure-as-a-Service, according to Gartner. The videoconferencing market currently sits at $3.3 billion, according to the research firm, while Video-as-a-Service is gaining momentum.

Here's how Gartner ranked the vendors in this Magic Quadrant, along with what the research firm said are each company's strengths and weaknesses.

Video Systems Research Methodology

Gartner evaluated video vendors with the reach, scale and interoperability for the global enterprise market of video products and services.

The research firm ranked the companies based on product range and quality, endpoint design innovation, functionality and availability of tools, and market traction in the enterprise.

Gartner's Magic Quadrant ranks vendors on their ability to execute and completeness of vision and places vendors into four categories: Niche Players (low on vision and execution), Visionaries (good vision but low execution), Challengers (good execution but low vision) and Leaders (excelling in both vision and execution).

Cisco Systems: Leader

Cisco remains the global market share leader for infrastructure and video endpoints. The networking giant's focus around ease of use for its endpoint portfolio – including new intelligent proximity-sensing and enhanced speaker-tracking technology – is innovative, according to Gartner.

San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco also acquired collaboration startup Acano, which simplifies the ability for users to access virtual meeting spaces. Cisco is a leader for both vision and execution on the Magic Quadrant.

Cisco Systems

Strengths: By making video an integrated part of its Cisco Spark collaboration platform, Cisco has more opportunities to increase the penetration of its video experiences and add value to conversational workflows, according to Gartner. The company's leadership in web conferencing and video infrastructure also enables Cisco to satisfy the need for hybrid architectures.

Weaknesses: Although the acquisition of Acano will improve scalability and affordability for large on-premise deployments, it is not fully integrated with Cisco's Cloud Collaboration Meeting Rooms – resulting in inconsistent end-user experiences, Gartner said.

Polycom: Leader

Polycom, set to be acquired by private equity firm Siris Capital Group, offers enterprise-grade voice and videoconferencing solutions and a suite of Microsoft Skype for Business integration. Gartner said the company's new video endpoint and infrastructure solutions, such as RealPresence Trio and RealPresence Debut, are addressing the growing room market.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company is Microsoft's strongest videoconferencing partner. Polycom is ranked No. 2 in execution and No. 3 in vision on the Magic Quadrant.

Polycom

Strengths: Polycom has a long history of consistently delivering enterprise-grade video solutions for a wide range of corporate video collaboration use cases. Polycom recently launched its RealPresence Clariti collaboration infrastructure to meet the growing demand of software-based video infrastructure.

Weaknesses: Mitel was initially slated to acquire Polycom, but in a stunning term of events, bowed out to instead be purchased by a private equity firm. Gartner said Polycom risks being distracted from its strategic road map and operations. In addition, its video endpoint shipments and revenue have been declining over the past three years.

Vidyo: Leader

Vidyo is gaining momentum in the market through its software-based approach to videoconferencing and addresses a variety of use case for workplace collaboration. Its cloud VidyoRoom SE video solution uses off-the-shelf hardware and the platform eliminates hardware-based transcoding requirements. Gartner said Vidyo's hosted cloud VaaS offering is winning over customers.

Vidyo is ranked No. 2 on the Magic Quadrant for vision and No. 3 in execution.

Vidyo

Strengths: The Hackensack, N.J.-based vendor is gaining ’significant’ traction for large-scale video deployments, said Gartner, demonstrating the market's growing acceptance of its approach to scalable video services. Vidyo's streamlined pricing structure -- which includes a concurrent licensing model -- simplifies sizing and budgeting for new implementations.

Weaknesses: Although Vidyo has integrations available for many unified communications offerings, it lacks a unified user experience with leading ecosystems from Cisco, Microsoft and Avaya, according to Gartner.

Arkadin, a strategic partner of Vidyo, has unveiled a new partnership with Pexip for video collaboration services. This creates a challenge for Vidyo to maintain the relationship and associated revenue, Gartner said.

Huawei: Challenger

China-based Huawei has been increasing video systems sales including endpoint and infrastructure revenue. The communications giant – which reported $61 billion in overall revenue last year -- has commercialized its H.265 TX-50 endpoint, which includes integrated wireless support, built-in multipoint control units (MCUs) capacity for local conferencing, and its DP300 touch-screen device.

Huawei is ranked No. 4 on the Magic Quadrant for execution, but sits in last place in regard to vision.

Huawei

Strengths: Although shipments are mainly in China and the Asia-Pacific region, sales are also growing in EMEA. In addition, its deep financial pockets are proving a solid foundation to grow its video business, said Gartner.

Weaknesses: Huawei does not offer an enterprise-class option for a software MCU, making large-scale video deployments expensive to build and support. The vendor has yet to commercialize a virtualized cloud infrastructure offering and is falling behind its main competitors, the research firm said.

Lifesize: Visionary

Lifesize, which spun off from Logitech in December, made a strategic decision to focus on its Icon endpoints for enterprise meeting rooms as well as its Cloud Video-as-a-Service offering for multimedia and web conferencing. The approach allows the company to offer cloud-native endpoints designed for virtual meeting rooms and simplifies endpoint registration and software updates.

Austin, Texas-based Lifesize is ranked in the middle of the pack for both vision and execution on the Magic Quadrant.

Lifesize

Strengths: Lifesize is positioning itself well to capitalize on the trend of enterprises buying cloud-based conferencing solutions with its cloud-native endpoints and cloud services integrated, according to Gartner.

Weaknesses: The company is withdrawing from the on-premise infrastructure market, which eliminates opportunities for it to win business from enterprises that favor on-premise MCU approaches, the research firm said.

ZTE: Niche Player

One of the largest telecom equipment providers in China, ZTE continues to grow share in the video system market -- primarily in the Asia-Pacific region. ZTE has a full lineup of endpoints ranging from modular and affordable room systems, such as its ET700, to three-screen telepresence systems. In 2015, ZTE launched TrueMeet, a video infrastructure cloud solution offered VaaS.

ZTE is ranked in the middle of the pack for execution, but sits near the bottom in regard to vision.

ZTE

Strengths: ZTE has an endpoint portfolio including new H.265 video endpoints that satisfy most mainstream room conferencing and desktop use cases in the enterprise, according to Gartner.

Weaknesses: ZTE has limited market share outside Asia-Pacific and its presence in North America remains limited. The company needs to improve its marketing efforts to create awareness of new software and cloud-based video infrastructure, said Gartner.

Avaya: Niche Player

Avaya offers a broad array of hardware, software and mobile video endpoints – along with conferencing and collaboration applications – across its Scopia and Aura platforms. Through its acquisition of Esna Technologies last year, Avaya can now embed video access in third-party web applications, allowing enterprises to participate in video communications from their favored business applications.

Avaya is ranked in the middle of the pack for vision, but sits near the bottom for execution.

Avaya

Strengths: Avaya is building on its foundation of cloud video offerings globally with both partner-hosted video solutions and its own AvayaLive video cloud service. Further convergence of its video portfolio and Avaya Aura unified communications assets may help convince Avaya's voice and UC customer base to stay in the brand, according to Gartner.

Weaknesses: Avaya needs to improve integration between its Scopia and Aura platforms. Sales of its group video solutions largely depend on pull-through sales from its existing voice and UC customers.

StarLeaf: Niche Player

New to the Magic Quadrant this year, StarLeaf offers cloud-based video calling and conferencing services along with its own video endpoints. Its OpenCloud offering is designed to support standard SIP and H.323 video endpoints, as well as interoperability with Microsoft Skype for Business clients. The OpenCloud subscription allows unlimited point-to-point calling across all supported devices.

StarLeaf is ranked in the middle of the pack for vision, but is last in execution on the Magic Quadrant.

StarLeaf

Strengths: The U.K.-based vendor offers endpoints capable of registering to its own cloud service. It also offers a video endpoint that registers with Skype for Business, while OpenCloud integrates with both on-premise and Microsoft Office 365 Skype for Business deployments.

Weaknesses: It will be challenging for StarLeaf to grow as a small player in a market that is populated by larger competitors, according to Gartner. The company also has a limited number of endpoints, which may not adequately serve all room sizes and enterprise use cases.