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We are in the midst of a violent transformation of our communications networks which involves an immense amount of control being wrestled away from carriers and given to developers and end-users. Visit the iTunes App store or check out what is happening with free turn-by-turn GPS on an Android 2.0 device to get an idea of what I mean. The trend is not new by any means; the first time communications systems were allowed to interoperate with computer systems was in the eighties when the first Rockwell Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) systems started to communicate with IBM mainframes to give us CTI or computer telephony integration. This allowed screen pops which dipped into CRM databases allowing contact center agents to know who was calling and more than likely why. Moore's Law coupled with telephony hooks like TAPI and TSAPI from Microsoft and Novell respectively meant this capability went from costing around a million dollars to tens of thousands of a dollars just a decade later.

Enterprise communications systems have continued to open up and hosted IVR systems, application generators and APIs for DSP resource boards from companies like Dialogic and Aculab allowed greater and greater telephony transformation allowing migration from fixed-function communications systems to more open software-controlled components which could be mixed and matched in a best-of-breed fashion.

The Internet accelerated this trend with its ability to allow cloud-based solutions to be easily accessed and mashups has been a great catalyst - allowing complex data to be represented in new and more interesting ways. Today we can combine the power which we were given by companies like Dialogic and marry them with the cloud and this means anyone can now develop sophisticated applications which leverage all internet and corporate data.

And when you combine open APIs, mashups, communications and social networking in a well thought-out and integrated fashion you are able to provide levels of productivity and customer service heretofore not possible. Any corporate or government process which has friction due to communications delays between people can be lubricated by the effective use of communications technology as it intersects with APIs and rich information sets which can live anywhere.

Perhaps the most respected name in the business of voice mashups is Thomas Howe, CEO, Light and Electric. If you want to know the past, present and future of communications - especially as it pertains to the cloud, you want to speak with Thomas and get his thoughts. If you are a carrier, large enterprise, integrator or government organization, you need to pick his brain to position your organization to take advantage of the ongoing evolution of communications.

Thomas and I have spoken over the past years about how TMC would love to partner to bring his visionary thoughts (all the good stuff locked up in his grey matter) to our audience of millions of global communications and technology decision-makers.

I am happy to announce that at the next ITEXPO which takes place January 20-22, 2010 in Miami, FL you will get a chance to come and hear Thomas speak. In addition you will soon be able to benefit from webinars and screencasts which our companies will jointly participate in.

I hope to see you at the show and as always, at TMC we are looking to provide you with the absolute best information on communications and technology - allowing you to quickly learn whatever you need to further your career and meet your organization's evolving needs.

• See how British Telecom is ahead of the curve as it relates to this transformation and bought Ribbit for over $100 million to make it so.
• Here is a past podcast I had with Thomas Howe for more on his ideas.

He is worth billions and he still works as hard as anyone I know. He travels the world and closes business. He actually said selling things turns him on. It shows - the companies he has started are some of the most successful around. I hope to have a fraction of his energy at his age.

Based upon the crowd here at his address and the focus by audience members on every word Terry is saying, it seems we picked a great keynoter for this event. Here is a clip of Terry speaking and the crowd shot of who was there.

NORWALK, CT- August 31, 2009 - Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) today announced that their editorial and conference teams have completed final preparations for this week's ITEXPO West 2009 at the L.A Convention Center in Los Angeles. The conference and EXPO, being held for the 20^th time since its launch in 1999, features a robust conference program, keynotes by industry leaders and visionaries, and networking opportunities where buyers and sellers can meet and forge relationships.

ITEXPO officially opens Tuesday, September 1 with a full-day of conference sessions, workshops, keynotes, and a networking reception.

The ITEXPO exhibit hall is open during the following hours:

Wednesday, September 2: 4:00pm - 8:00pm
Thursday, September 3: 11:15am - 5:00pm

TMC also reported that all dedicated hotel room blocks at the Westin Bonaventure, the official show hotel, have completely sold out.

"The hotels are sold out, pre-registered exhibit hall attendance is up over 2008, and the exhibit hall is filled with companies displaying some of the most innovative communications technologies. All elements are pointing toward a terrific event," proclaimed TMC CEO Rich Tehrani.

Tehrani added, "And what's most exciting is that the registration figures that are trending ahead of last year suggests that companies are ready once again serious about investing in technologies that can help be more productive. It appears that buyers and sellers are once again poised to gather in L.A. to close deals, form partnerships and develop new relationships - the hallmarks of the ITEXPO experience."

Highlights of ITEXPO West 2009 include:

• Conference tracks covering Enterprise and Service Provider solutions, unified communications, SIP, and Wireless/Mobility solutions
• TMCUniversity Certification Courses: IP Network Security and Microsoft OCS
• Fonality trixbox Open Communication Certification (FtOCC)
• Ingate's Free SIP Trunking Workshop
• Sipera's UC Security Workshop
• Collocated M2M Evolution Conference
• Collocated Smart Grid Summit Conference
• Collocated 4GWE Conference
• Asterisk Training Courses
• Reseller Solutions Day free workshop
• Keynotes by ShoreTel, Aspect, Paetec, Alvarion, Sir Terry Matthews of Wesley Clover, Clearwire, and Interactive Intelligence
• Open Source Pavilion on the exhibit floor, showcasing open source solutions

In addition to the educational and networking opportunities, attendees have the chance to win a brand new Jeep, an iPhone, Slingbox, or HP Netbook.

Visit www.itexpo.com for more information or to register for ITEXPO West 2009.

Contact Information:

We are heading into ITEXPO with one day to go and today I got great news from my team who all arrived safely in Los Angeles and are busy preparing the Los Angeles Convention Center for the best ITEXPO ever. The good news? The preregistration for Avaya's social networking kick-off event is over 3X greater than last year's Avaya conference so far. Either this is an indication of the interest in social networking or there are more people coming to the show. Hopefully it's a bit of both.

My weekend in Los Angeles has been great... I have spent time with many relatives - at least 100 and counting. Yes, I have a huge family.

As always, we are looking forward to welcoming you all to what promised to be a great show - full of collaboration tools, videoconferencing solutions, IP communications tools and more. Moreover, there are new areas of the show such as Smart Grid, M2M, 4G and WINOG which I just can't wait to learn more about.

Then there are open source certifications (Digium/Asterisk, Fonality/Trixbox) on all the important flavors of open source communications solutions.

It's just what you have been waiting for - the 76-page show directory for ITEXPO which will give you lots of needed information regarding the show (Sept 1-3 in LA) . Virtually everything you need is in here - sponsors, floor plan, exhibitor list, TMC University, Trixbox training, Ingate's SIP trunking workshop, Reseller solutions day, keynotes, Asterisk Training, WiNOG, Sipera SIP Security, Wireless Broadband training, M2M, Smart Grid Summit, 4GWE, agenda and Q&As with industry thought leaders. Get it while it's hot and download it to your smartphone or laptop/netbook so you can refer to it often.

Be sure to check out all of the exciting news happening at ITEXPO. In order to get up to date news be sure to bookmark the show news page and check out the three show dailies which have already been produced. Check this page often to stay up to date.

August 20 show daily: SIP security, next gen IMS, VoIP boosts small biz, smart grid progress, Brightcom, Octasic, SIP trunking seminar, Digium open source Asterisk workshop, Terry Matthews keynote, cash for phone system clunkers etc.

August 25 show daily: Smart grid as global trend, mobile communications, Amdocs, 4G, mobile devices, consumer unified communications, Cbeyond and pretzels, Spanlink, wholesale and enterprise VoIP.

August 27 show daily: home energy management/smarthome, networking alternatives, open-source communications in Europe, Multi-Tech, WiMAX dead again, telepresence worth $4.7 billion, fax over IP survivability, SIP trunks

As a follow-up to the ITEXPO interviews I posted links to last week, here are the latest responses from the industry. Of particular interest are answers from Doug Mohney who explains how he got into the business by being employee number 11 or 12 at DIGEX. I also found the responses from Eli Katz of XConnect enlightening... If you are interested in peering or IP communications you want to give them a read.

There is so much great information here and I suggest you click all the interviews and read them - these are some of the true thought-leaders in our spaces and they have a wealth of useful information to share. I hope to meet you as well as all the speakers and exhibitors very soon at the show. We are officially 13 days away.

Be sure to register now if you haven't already.