A VoIP conference is one of the best ways to stay educated on VoIP. VoIP is hotter than ever. And I have to say, staying educated on the latest VoIP products, services, or VoIP standards is a full-time job (actually it is my job!) Fortunately, TMC's Internet Telephony Conference & Expo, the leading VoIP conference, helps keep me educated.
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2005 no doubt will be a banner year for VoIP. Many industry pundits are making predictions as such - everything from VoIP company mergers/buyouts to IPOs to some unknown killer VoIP-app will happen in 2005. This next
big VoIP conference (February 22nd-25th) promises to be the largest
VoIP conference ever. Rich Tehrani tells me the attendee pre-registration number for this
VoIP conference are already setting record numbers. The conference track for Internet Telephony Conference & Expo is amazing this year with some really interesting topics. Check out some of the topics the speakers will be covering in the conference sessions:
- VoIP Peering
- Regulation & Taxation
- E-911
- UNE-P to VoIP
- VoIP Security
- Open Source Telephony <--- Probably my favorite topic
- Triple Play
- Session Border Controllers
- WiFi Telephony
- SIP Workshop
- VoIP Conferencing
These are but a short list of topics covered in the conferences. You should go check out the conference's brochure for more info. Rich told me he expects a record number of exhibitors as well as service providers at this conference show and not surprisingly, a very sizable developer audience since this conference has certification classes in various VoIP genres. I'm hoping to see more open source telephony solutions similar to the popular
Asterisk IP-PBX. There is a shift taking place in VoIP as the technology has proven itself in the real world and now we must try to figure out where we go from here. Rich calls this VoIP 2.0 - the next level of VoIP. This is an important concept because entirely new industries are emerging to take advantage of the new opportunities that VoIP provides. For example, Skype, Popular Telephony and Nimcat Networks are just three companies in the p2p VoIP space yet they are affecting the lives of tens of millions of people. VoIP peering is a relatively new phenomenon and it has the ability to reduce the cost of VoIP an order of magnitude from where it is today!
UNE-P rule changes are forcing service providers to scramble and become VoIP providers. There is a great deal more to VoIP 2.0 and this conference is the only one that is focusing on the most important areas of VoIP growth. I'll be at this next VoIP conference covering all the VoIP news that be announced at the conference show and I'm sure there will be lots of it. Often times I moderate one or more of the conference sessions, so feel free to say "hello" if you a regular reader of my blog. Like I previous stated, everything I'm hearing is that this will be a
blockbuster VoIP conference show with some HUGE VoIP announcements. I'll be reporting from the conference show floor any VoIP news scoops I find, so check my blog regularly. If I recall, I did a huge "blogathon" (lots of back-to-back blogs) at a past VoIP conference here:
VoIP Conference Tradeshow Update Actually, this is a better link -
VoIP Conference Blogathon - since it covers all of October 2004's blog entries when I was covering Internet Telephony conference announcements (along with those damn Red Sox beating the Yankees). If you plan on attending the current or future VoIP conference put on by
TMC or are just curious to find out more about the show, just click here:
Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO Update: I've been asked a few times to provide a list of other VoIP conferences, so here ya go:
VoIP Conferences
- SIPit conference event: SIPITs, or Session Initiation Protocol Interoperability Tests, are weeklong events where people bring their SIP implementations to ensure they work together.
March, 2005
Banff, Canada
- Internet Telephony Conference & Expo Spring: This VoIP conference includes several conference tracks as well as hundreds of exhibitors
Feb 22-25th, 2005
Miami, FL, USA
- International SIP Conference 2005: Learn all about SIP, the hottest VoIP protocol, at this conference
Jan 25th-28th, 2005
Paris, France
- Next Gen Voice Conference:
Feb 7-8th, 2005
London, England
- Internet Telephony Conference & Expo Fall: This VoIP conference includes several conference tracks as well as hundreds of exhibitors
Oct 24-27th, 2005
Los Angeles, CA
- VON Conference & Expo Spring 2005:
March 7-10th, 2005
San Jose, CA
- VoIP World conference & Strategy Summit:
April 26-28th, 2005
The Royal Garden Hotel, London, England
- China VoIP Conference & Expo 2005:
May 18-20th, 2005
Beijing, China
- Wi-Fi Voice Conference 2005: The convergence of WiFi and voice (voice over WiFi) or VoIP using WiFi will become huge in the near future
May 10-23th, 2005
Paris, France
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How much is this VoIP conference? Is there a money-back guarantee? I'm interested in attending but would like more info. Is the conference brochure online somewhere in pdf format?
I was at the last three Internet Telephony conferences and I've attended other VoIP conferences as well. I was more than satisfied.
The Internet Telephony conferences definitely are action-packed and filled with lots of info. I especially like the IP-PBX Shootouts which are always "lively" and the networking that goes on. I wish they'd have a Skype vs. SIP debate or shootout though since Skype uses their own proprietary protocol.
I've also been to Pulver's Voice on the Net (VON) conference. It's not a bad conference to go to either, but it was much more expensive to attend the conference sessions than Internet Telephony Conference & Expo.
If you have the budget, I say go to each VoIP conference. I think each of these conferences are twice a year for four times total. That's a lot of travelling! Still, if you want to stay educated on VoIP, there's nothing like seeing VoIP products in action on the exhibit floor.
hope this info helps.
VoIP conferences are not only great educational resources they're also great networking events as well.
I attend just about every VoIP conference including international ones. Thankfully my business travel is a tax write-off.