After the tremendous success of ITEXPO this past week, TMC is on a roll and VoIP 2.0 has definitely started to arrive. Of course I don’t think we are 100% there yet but we are at the start. I am just beginning to see the applications that will make companies jump to deploy VoIP not because of cost-savings but because the applications are so compelling.

Yesterday I wrote about Citrix and their new technology that will enable the next generation of VoIP 2.0 applications to be enabled. Of course Citrix is just one company striving to help the world get to VoIP 2.0 – there are countless others.

The industry’s leap from 1.0 to 2.0 is essential as we need to ensure that everyone understands that the power VoIP extends way beyond saving a buck on long-distance. It is the power of the next-generation applications that will enable us to really take this industry to the next level.

The next place where you can see VoIP 2.0 live will be in Ft. Lauderdale Florida on January 24-27, 2006 when Internet Telephony Conference & Expo East comes to town. This South Florida event is always a madhouse of buyers and it has become the international meeting pace for VoIP.

I have been thinking about general themes our industry should be focusing on and two come to mind. The first is security as I believe that most installations of VoIP do not adequately take security considerations into account.

It is crucial that we as an industry begin to realize how important this issue is. For this reason I am happy to announce that Tom Ridge the first Secretary of Homeland Security will be giving a keynote speech.

I also believe the financial aspects of VoIP need to be better understood by all and to that end I am proud to announce that Ron Insana  from CNBC will be making a presentation as well.

I figured these speakers – one a security expert and another a financial expert are the perfect people to address our audience.

If there is one thing I learned when listening to Carly Fiorina speak at the last ITEXPO it is that VoIP is now really mainstream. Carly spoke about VoIP not as an outsider but as someone who seemed to live the industry’s challenges on a daily basis. This is probably why I heard so many good things about her speech from show attendees after she spoke.

The technology, ability to change markets and struggles of VoIP are understood more widely than you might imagine and the different points of view people like Insana and Ridge will bring to ITEXPO will be amazing in my estimation.

I hope to see you all in Ft. Lauderdale at ITEXPO this January, 2006 so you can see VoIP 2.0 for yourselves!