I have been seeing an interesting trend in the communications space. In the last 2-3 years, more and more companies who used to focus on service providers have expanded their focus into the call center space. Acme Packet and NextPoint are a few examples of such companies. This is not so surprising mind you when you realize how remote agents resemble service provider customers and the theing they have in common is the need for an SBC.

In addition there has been growth in the hosted contact center market and as more service providers have become interested in providing such services worldwide they need to work with call center vendors who can supply them with the solutions they need. Virtual ACDs and hosted IVR solutions are just a few of these products.

There is more of course. In some cases, call center solutions need to be so big they actually require more switching power than is needed by a small city. This is why West Corporation — a company in the outsourcing and other spaces is a Sonus customer.

One of the reasons there is a collocated Call Center 2.0 event at ITEXPO September 16-18 2008 in Los Angeles is so global decision makers — whether they are enterprise, service provider, contact center or reseller can come together in one place and see the entire world of communications products and services.

As always, I am looking forward to hosting you all at these events this fall. Have a very safe trip.