ZTE has launched the 7404-ZXIN10, a call center equipment that supports several multimedia message unified access, waiting and router. The model integrates voice, media, fax, e-mail, Web and SMS.

Shenzhen is home to 25 percent of China's call center equipment makers, and shares 70 percent of the total output.

The first city in China to open to world trade, Shenzhen in Guangdong province has developed into a high-tech industrial center over the years. Shenzhen has formed a complete electronic and telecom supply chain that allows manufacturers in the city to develop and produce various products for China and the world.

The city boasts a pool of professional and experienced R&D engineers that can handle product development of communication equipment and technologies. The local government harnesses this manpower by supporting R&D and technology development within the city through preferential policies and initiatives, even financial support for new technology development. In terms of business investments, Shenzhen leverages its proximity to Hong Kong. Shenzhen has two world class sea ports, the Shenzhen Yantian port and Shenzhen Chiwan port, which most export-oriented makers use to reduce shipping costs for raw materials and components, as well as finished products.

With a rapidly growing industry, Shenzhen has become the production and R&D center for call center equipment in China. It is home to medium-scale companies with relatively strong R&D capability, including Donjin Communication Technology Co. Ltd and Dingming Communication Co. Ltd. Two of China's leading telecom equipment manufacturers, ZTE Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, are based in Shenzhen.

There are about six to eight call center equipment makers in Shenzhen. These makers comprise only 25 percent of the overall supplier base in China. Yet, Shenzhen's output of call center equipment accounts for 70 percent of the total production. Almost all makers in the city are engaged in own-brand manufacturing (OBM), with only a few involved in OEM.

Makers of call center equipment in China are piggybacking on the continuous growth of the call center industry worldwide. Because very few foreign companies are investing in call center equipment manufacturing in China, locally owned suppliers attach great importance to R&D, with emphasis on new technologies. Most of the Shenzhen-based call center equipment makers are also capable of in-house production.

The majority of makers are small- and medium-scale companies that focus on the midrange and low-end markets. With their huge R&D capital and strong aftersales service, large companies such as ZTE and Huawei are currently dominating the market.

One of the leading global providers of telecom equipment and network solutions, ZTE caters to the wireline, wireless, terminal and service markets. The company began exploring the call center equipment industry in 1999 and has been registering a 70 to 80 percent growth rate in sales for the last four years. ZTE owns production facilities in Shenzhen, where its call center products are produced. Except for the CPU chipset, the company develops all the products' chipsets and software in-house.

Donjin is one of the earliest companies in China to specialize in multimedia switches and computer telephony integration (CTI) products. The company's products are independently developed by Donjin and are widely used in enterprise communication, call center and telecom operations. These are mainly targeted at small- and medium-scale enterprises. Donjin has launched the Seegoe, the company's own label of call center equipment.

Dingming is one of the pioneer companies involved in R&D, manufacture and marketing of CTI products. Dingming's major products include programmable voice switches, voice boards and various CTI-related products.

Dingming has its own factory in Shenzhen that spans 4000sqm. It complies with ISO 9001:2000 and employs 40 R&D staff.

With the domestic China market continuing to grow, most companies in China concentrate on the domestic market. However, as competition becomes tighter, more makers are expected to explore other markets and expand into the export businesses in 2008.

Except for ZTE and Huawei, most makers are exporting only a small volume of their products. The average export ratio among makers is estimated at 20 percent. The majority of makers export to Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America.

ZTE plans to explore other export markets for its call center equipment, particularly eyeing Europe and the US.

Donjin began exporting its products in 2004. Currently, export sales contribute 10 percent to the company's total sales revenue. The company ships its products to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and India.

About 8 percent of Dingming's total sales are generated from export sales in Asia. The company began exploring the export market in 2006.

Call center equipment are targeted at customer service companies, including mail order catalog organizations, telemarketing companies, computer product help desks and large organizations that sell products and services. Most equipment support order taking and processing, and handling overflow calls. These can handle toll-free numbers, RSVP service, seminar and event organization, appointment setting, market research surveys, help desk, and information and catalog requests. Specialized equipment can place hundreds of calls per hour by utilizing the database and prerecorded messages for mass callouts.

Call center products are also used for interactive voice response (IVR) outbound and inbound telesales and broadcasting, e-mail response and database management, data entry, interactive voice services, direct connect transfer and enhanced call router. The products typically adopt distributed design, all TCP/IP control and DSP chips. They support SS7, ISDN PRI and E1R2. The products comply with SIP and H.323 protocols.

Call center products are classified according to handling capacity, including the number of manual desk clients and IVR service lists that can be provided. Large-scale call center equipment usually has more than 120 manual desk clients. Low-end models have only about 10 manual desk clients. Midrange products support about 30 to 100 manual desk clients. Another product differentiator between high-end and low-end products is the technology used. Many makers in Shenzhen are now adopting the next-generation call center (NGCC) technology, which is based on pure IP network. Some makers are also incorporating video function into their products.