Yesterday at Interop I asked exhibitors and analysts what they were hearing about the economy. Most said they think the recovery would be U shaped, not a V but some thought that Q3 would be the start of a recovery.

Interestingly it seems the companies who are marketing aggressively are doing better than the quiet companies who have basically turned out the lights and are hoping for the best.

An example of the former, Interactive Intelligence - a company reporting record profits -- was cited here yesterday.

I have to admit that I believe the housing market is still inflated and has 30-40% to drop. I am no real estate analyst mind you but it seems the run up was too fast and we haven't seen that much air taken out of most of the market.

If I am right -- this drag on the economy could be offset fairly easily. We need an increased focus on public works. Basically repairing the infrastructure of America. Our bridges and roads are a mess and we need to hire many people to fix these problems.

This is akin to the New Deal which was how we got the economy back on track after the Great Depression.

One point that does tie unified communications more closely with the economy is a conversation I had with Jay Burrell and Kendra Petrone of Nokia and Chris Thompson of Cisco. Jay told me in a few of his recent meetings, CIOs are telling him they need UC because employees can't afford gas and they want to work from home.

So UC it seems is becoming a way to offset high gas prices. If you add this to long distance savings brought on by VoIP, communications technologies are in a great position to be boosted by a slow economy and soaring gas prices.