The remainder of VON passed quickly for me, and it’s now been almost a week since I’ve been back. Here’s my take on the overall experience.
First off, the event has been well covered by the blog world. Jeff’s post has links at the bottom to Om, Martin, and others all of whom have analyzed the event far better than I could hope to. The mainstream press also has great coverage. Reading all of this may conceivably take more time that actually attending the event.
One of the broad themes that comes through is the maturation of the VoIP & IP communications industry, a phrase frequently heard is the tipping point. This inflection point exactly matches my personal and professional history in this space, which creates a nice symmetry and inspires confidence that I am in exactly the right technology at exactly the right time. This doesn’t happen often in one’s career.
I’ve attended 5 or 6 VONs now, starting in the bubble in 2000, through the down-and-out period, up to now. I am increasingly running into people that I know or that know me, which is both good and bad. Bad in that I have less time to attend talks and spend on the show floor, good in that I am now in the private meetings and receptions where the real discussions, progress and insights are.
I’m also leading a major VoIP implementation, and encouraging a few other companies to adopt a VoIP approach. When you’re a buyer with significant volume, numerous vendors chase you. It’s always interesting when you put a project out to bid, you start getting the real insights into what the capabilities, maturities, and economics really are.
VoIP is here and real, IP communications is changing the world, and it’s an exciting time to be in the middle of it all!