There’s a bit of good news for the Unified Communications market and, hopefully, the economy as a whole. Dell’Oro Group, the analyst organization that tracks networking and telecom markets, says that in the third quarter of 2010, the UC market expanded to its highest level since 2008.

Noting a sequential growth rate of seven percent, Dell’Oro pointed out in its Enterprise Telephony Quarterly Report that key UC vendors had very strong third quarters, particularly in North America. In Europe, they weren’t so lucky, but the overall growth was cause for even more optimism from the Dell’Oro analysts. They expect even more expansion to finish off the year, observing that vendors are continuing to invest in and expand their software offerings. Also, Microsoft’s new introduction of Lync, the solution formerly known as Office Communications Server, will be a positive for the UC market.

Over the long term, another analyst firm, Forrester Research, has projected that by 2015, the UC market will be a $14.5 billion one.

Migration of the installed base to IP lines continues, Dell’Oro pointed out, but at a pace that suggests it could be another decade before conversion is complete. Progress doesn’t always come quickly, it seems.