Calysto’s PR Vibes on ITEXPO East 2009

Laura Borgstede’s Calysto PR Agency just put out their popular PR Vibes newsletter detailing what happened at ITEXPO this month in Miami. The good thing about the newsletters Laura puts out is she calls them as she sees them. Take a look for yourself.

Laura, thanks for all the detail, it brings back good memories.

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INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO East 2009

Miami, FL

Miami Beach Convention Center

Feb. 2-4, 2009
 
Attendees: 8,309
Exhibitors: around 165
Media/Analysts: 69
 
Calysto Overview
 

Despite rumors of VoIP’s demise and how the ongoing economy doom and gloom is bringing trade shows down, this year’s Internet Telephony Conference & Expo exceeded expectations. Organizers had projected 6,000-7,000 visitors and 150 exhibitors, but the show drew more than 8,000 attendees and 165 exhibitors.

 

Attendees came from companies of all sizes representing all sectors of the IP Communications industry, including service providers, carriers, enterprises, government agencies, resellers, manufacturers and developers. The attendees were predominantly high-level executives, with 72% at the last event being a vice president or higher, according to TMC, the show’s organizer.

 

The exhibit hall was vibrant, featuring solutions for enterprises, SMBs, government and service providers. Several people mentioned that there seemed to be constant traffic on the floor. The exhibitors we talked to were happy with the traffic and the quality of leads they were seeing, and according to show organizers, exhibitors such as ABP and Ingate shattered past ITEXPO lead count records.


Some of the buzz at the show included talk about IP PBX and communications systems for the SMB market, channel partner sessions, the latest and greatest contact center wares, telepresence, CaaS (communications-as-a-service) and lots about Asterisk and 4G wireless, especially since there were co-located shows on those topics.

TMC partnered with Crossfire Media to form a new event called 4G Wireless Evolution, which was co-located with IT EXPO. 4GWE drew from the service provider and manufacturer communities, as well as applications and content delivery companies. The inaugural event drew more than 200 participants, exceeding organizer expectations.

4GWE kicked off with a series of tutorials and breakout sessions focused on critical wireless technologies and business issues. Fifty speakers offered attendees insight into how the wireless industry will evolve to a 4G model. The Day One tutorial, developed by Brough Turner of Dialogic and Fanny Mlinarsky of Octoscope, was particularly well regarded and provided a great framework for the conference overall, said Carl Ford, co-founder and community developer at Crossfire Media.

We heard from both speakers and attendees that the 4GWE sessions were well received. The content was relevant, and attendees felt that the conference gave them insight into new technologies and technical issues revolving around 4G Wireless Networks.

Microsoft had a significant presence at IT EXPO, mostly surrounding the Response Point IP-PBX. Jajah’s booth was another popular spot, where the company showed off its application that turns the iPod Touch into a fully functioning mobile phone for consumers. Also, IP phone system vendor Grandstream previewed its next-generation IP video phone.

ITEXPO’s educational program focused on teaching enterprises, SMBs, and government agencies how to select and deploy IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications. Sessions dealt with how service providers can profitably roll out services their subscribers are asking for. There were 202 speakers at the show. We spoke with many who said their sessions were well attended, and the audiences were engaged.  “The Q&A was good, especially in my SIP Trunking sessions,” said Jon Arnold, principal, J Arnold & Associates.


John Frederiksen, the general manager of Microsoft’s Response Point initiative, and Danny Windham, CEO of Asterisk, gave keynotes addresses Tuesday morning to a standing-room-only audience. Frederiksen said he sees tremendous potential in the SMB phone system space and that the opportunity is similar to the netbook market.

Another popular session was “The Unified Communications Shootout,” which drew a couple hundred people. Attendees were impressed with the session’s format, which gave several vendors five to seven minutes to pitch their solutions. Attendees then could decide which booths to visit to find out more. A Q&A period wrapped up the session.

 

Unfortunately, TMC chose to allow 2 PR executives to participate on panels this year. While obviously Calysto is a PR agency itself, and consider ourselves experts in the IP and telecom industries, we do not consider PR people to be the ones that attendees want to hear from as spokespeople. Do you agree?

During the IT EXPO, TMC editors also picked the Best of Show winners in several categories that represented the breadth of exhibitors who showed their wares in the exhibit hall. For the winners, visit http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/voip/itexpo/itexpo-best-of-show-winners-preannounced.html.

The media presence was solid; around 70 registered as press. Those in attendance were mostly the usual suspects-
-a lot of TMC folks, obviously, as well as other trade press and analysts from both large firms and independents. The coverage was thorough, both in terms of articles and blogs.

“In spite of a tough economy and a gloomy outlook for telecom, support for the show was strong,” Arnold said.” I think many people were pleasantly surprised to discover this when they got there, which only added to the buzz.”

One complaint we heard from a couple of people is that they wish the show floor was open longer. With the number of meetings people have scheduled, as well as sessions they wanted to attend, sometimes they had less time to walk the floor than they would have liked.  

However, the consensus was that the show was a valuable tool. People were able to conduct a lot of business last week at IT EXPO, definitely enough to make attendance worthwhile. “I had many meetings and developed relationships with several people I met for the first time at the show,” said one attendee. This was a strong all-around show for those in the IP industry. The exhibit hall was overflowing with energy and boasted strong traffic, the educational sessions were well attended and interactive (so there will probably be even more speaking opportunities next year) and there was strong media coverage.

IT EXPO West will be October 27-29  now Sept 1-3 in Los Angeles. Future 4GWE events include the June 4GWE Whitespace Summit at Supercomm and the 4GWE event and in October co-located with IT EXPO West.

Articles of Interest
 

The IP Communications Industry Unites: VoIP Is Alive

NetworkWorld

By Matthew Nickasch

February 5, 2009

 

Internet Telephony Expo East — The Spies Come Out

Interactive Intelligence
By Joe Staples
February 5, 2009
 

IT EXPO East 2009: Microsoft Goes Official with Response Point SP2

FierceVoIP

By Doug Mohney

February 4, 2009

 

Dialogic Expands Hybrid Gateway Configurations

TMCnet

By Michelle Robart

February 4, 2009

 

IT EXPO East 2009: Cbeyond Adds Mobile Workforce Management with SaaS Offering

FierceVoIP

By Doug Mohney

February 4, 2009

 

Microsoft at ITEXPO: Innovation, Software to Drive Next Phase of Communications

TMCnet

By Michael Dinan

February 3, 2009

 

IP Telephony Veteran: VoIP Has Grown Up

TMCnet

By Michael Dinan

February 3, 2009

 

SLIDESHOW: ITEXPO East 2009

FierceVoIP

By Doug Mohney

February 3, 2009

 

NetSapiens and Dash Carrier Services Announce Expanded Relationship at ITEXPO East

TMCnet
By Stefania Viscusi
February 3, 2009
 

IT Expo – So Far

Jon Arnold’s Analyst 2.0 Blog

By Jon Arnold

February 3, 2009

 
First Impressions Of IT Expo East 2009

VoIP Watch

By Andy Abramson

February 3, 2009

 

SIP Print Expands Distribution with ABP Technology

TMCnet
By Tim Gray
February 3, 2009
 
In Miami, Integration Rules at IT EXPO
VON
By Richard Martin
February 2, 2009
 

Devfoundry Announces New VoIP Diagnostic Tool at ITEXPO

TMCnet

By Tim Gray

February 2, 2009

 

SLIDESHOW:The Opening of ITEXPO East 2009

FierceVoIP

By Doug Mohney

February 2, 2009

 

RAD Data Communications Features SIP-Based VoIP Solution at ITEXPO East 2009

TMCnet

By Tim Gray

February 2, 2009

 
 
About Calysto Communications

Founded in 1999, Calysto Communications (www.calysto.com) is a global public relations and social media marketing firm focused solely on the specialized needs of the technology industry in the broadcasting, telecommunications, and wireless sectors. We provide a full suite of services to emerging and established business-to-business and business-to-consumer organizations. Unlike general technology PR firms, Calysto leverages its deep industry knowledge and intimate relationships with market influencers to deliver unmatched industry mindshare, analyst coverage and media publicity to our clients. Our all-senior management team uses a strategy-driven approach proven to help Calysto clients drive sales, create value for shareholders, move toward liquidity or raise overall awareness. Calysto also publishes a free e-newsletter, PR VibesTM (www.prvibes.com), which provides industry players with insight into media and analyst moves around the industry; industry events and tradeshows; and trends in marketing and public relations.

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