We just lost a 200+phones customer to a Cisco install recently. Bosses want the Cicso phone on their desk. Cisco has great marketing of their phones; they are seen everywhere(TV shows, news programs, banks, etc). They upgraded all cable to cat6, new gigabit switches for who knows what cost(semi-future proofed and eliminated QOS issues). Customer was in the mindset to replace rather than upgrade existing system even though it was way less expensive. Cisco will work its way down to the smaller systems eventually. I think manufacturers of other systems need to allow the CISCO phones to work on their systems (SIP) so the boss gets his/her CISCO phone and they still get the system sale. There is going to be some more consolidation next year or some other manufacturers disappearing...The whole landscape is changing with Microsoft planning on releasing their VOIP system next year, desk phones may not be around in the next 10 years. With kids today using IM and cell phones, they will just want to use them instead of being tied to desk. All cell phone providers need to do is have transfer/conference feature and desktop application for voicemails and the pbx could be eliminated in alot of offices....
