XConnect (News - Alert) is predicting that video communications will see growth this year. The trend comes after the company also saw the level of usage and revenues jump during 2011.

“We continue to foresee rapid growth as video, high-definition (HD) voice and other next-generation services gain traction as more powerful devices and applications emerge almost daily,” XConnect CEO Eli Katz (News - Alert) said in a company press release.

According to data from Cisco, business videoconferencing traffic is growing faster than general business IP traffic. The sector’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is 41 percent from 2010-2015, according to Cisco (News - Alert).

“XConnect is uniquely qualified to address the key challenge emerging with widening adoption of IP-based video services – interconnecting the diverse video ‘islands,’” Katz said in the statement.

In 2011, XConnect also launched the Video Interconnection Exchange (VIE), the first “neutral federation” for video communications. The company set up alliances with BCS Global and IPV. For example, XConnect and IPV partnered to let end users make point-to-point video calls without using manual intervention and bridges, according to a recent report on TMCnet. XConnect's ENUM registry services will be combined with IPV's Federated Inter-Xchange.

Katz says the company will also offer complex “interworking to enable previously incompatible video devices to interoperate across multiple platforms,” according to the company press release. “Our continued investment in groundbreaking technology and solutions is paying off with satisfying uptake in XConnect services for one-stop interconnection across networks and platforms,” he added.

During 2011, the company saw a 61 percent jump in revenue across sectors when compared to the previous year. In addition, XConnect saw an 85 percent increase when measuring traffic on the global network. There also was a 78 percent jump in 2011 in the number of calls handled by the company. And there was a 78 percent increase in the number of queries made to the company’s ENUM-based registry – to 3 billion. XConnect’s ENUM registry had 2.2 billion numbers by the close of last year – which makes it the largest registry of its kind in the world.

Soon, XConnect will announce other federations with interexchange partners, such as a recent one with DE-CIX (News - Alert), Katz said. In addition, XConnect will integrate ENUM registry into the GSMA Rich Communications Suite to let mobile operators provide instant messaging, chat, live video sharing, and file transfer across any device on any network, the company said. Overall, XConnect’s customers include nine of the top 20 global operators – when measured by revenue. They include broadband services providers, cable operators and over-the-top providers.

XConnect has its headquarters in London. Other offices are in the United States, Europe and Asia. In a related matter, XConnect was recently ranked fifth on the Sunday Times Microsoft (News - Alert) Tech Track 100 list of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies.