I had a great time at VoIP Sizzles and am headed back today. Last night we went to Dave and Busters and I had a chance to play some video games with Mark Spencer of Digium and ABP’s Robert Messer. TMC’s Dave Rodriguez mentioned there are no Dave and Busters near us in Connecticut. I bet it would do well in White Plains, NY which is 15 minutes over the Connecticut border. It might also do well in Norwalk, CT where TMC is headquartered. Of course bringing it to Norwalk would be bad for TMC productivity. Tom Keating might actually request we direct deposit his salary directly into Dave and Buster’s rechargeable game cards ;-).

The level of optimism in the attendees was good and I met with lots of resellers and even a CLEC.

It seems that the VoIP vendors I spoke with lost some business due to investor nervousness having to do with the FTC and E911 issues but that seems to have subsided.

Personally I think the FTC intervention into the VoIP market is good for our industry as it slows down investment just a bit. After the last run in 99-2000 I think slower and steadier long-term growth for VoIP beats rapid bubble like increases that are unsustainable.

The Dallas economy is really heating up and hiring is beginning to become a bit more difficult once again. Most of the growth it seems can be attributed to the VoIP market and its variants such as WiFi telephony, etc are really fueling the market down here. 

Update from Michelle Pasquerello:

Did you know there is a D&B over the Tappan Zee at the Palisades Mall in NY? (Close to White Plains)

I didn’t know that and this isn’t too far after all! Thanks Michelle!