Having just returned from four days at the VON show in Santa Clara, I thought I would submit a "highlights" message. I hope others who attended the show will take the opportunity to add, as there was far more to see than I can cover on my own.
[VoIP IS BIG] First, I have to say that VoIP is BIG. It is the buzz technology of the day. The show was packed, and everybody there was there for a reason. Jeff Pulver, in his introductory remarks told us the "walking dead" count was zero and he was right. Wall-to-wall VoIP people. [Who Was There] The crowd was a mix of service providers (including CLECs, VoIP pure-plays, ISPs adding VoIP as a service, etc.) and VoIP product vendors looking to sell solutions to the providers. Also sprinkled into the group were regulators from the FCC, advocates for various technologies, representatives from various industry groups, and a fair number of lawyers. Perhaps the most interesting story here was the nearly even split between US citizens and those from other nations. [What Was Hot] 1. SIP. Every presentation I saw mentioned SIP at some point. While it has been obvious for some time that SIP is poised to become _the_ standard for telecom in the this century, the constant repetition is a good indicator that the standards wars are actually over and SIP stands as the survivor. 2. Presence. Everybody wants to know when and where everybody is at all times. Buddy lists are in, dial-pads are out. The message is also clear that presence will go beyond online/away/offline to include actual geographic location. It will also move away from device-centric presence (knowing that a cell phone is on) to user-centric presence (knowing how a user wants to communicate at the time). We need to add presence to Asterisk. Now. 3. Asterisk. While those of us in the Asterisk community have known for some time that Asterisk can do nearly anything, given a bit of time and effort, the word seems to have spread. Asterisk was mentioned in Keynotes, Industry Perspectives, the Town Hall meeting, and in numerous breakout sessions. Hundreds of people came by the Digium/Asterisk booth to either find out more about the system, or to crow about what they are doing with Asterisk. In a feat of irony worthy of mention, Pingtel announced their new SIP Forge organization over an audio conference hosted on an Asterisk system. Asterisk is definitely hot. 4. EoIP (Everything Over IP). The lingo of the trade seems to be changing as things mature. Voice is just one application among many. Robert Pepper of the FCC described that agency's focus as moving to IP communications in general, rather than simply Voice. This makes sense. Voice really _is_ just one of many modes of communication, and a long way away from the original VoIP service. 5. Regulatory Concerns. Several of the presenters brought up social an legal issues related to VoIP, and the associated government regulations that follow. E911 service and CALEA (wiretapping) were both the big concerns, as was inter-carrier compensation and taxation. Dr. Pepper indicated that he was pleased with the direction that the VoIP market is going, in terms of the voluntary compliance with the relevant rules from the existing PSTN regs. He indicated that the FCC was, for the time being, willing to regulate minimally -- following the same model used for the Wireless carriers over the past decade. 6. VoIP Broadband Services. With AT&T's announcement that it was moving into the residential and business VoIP market (joining Packet8, Vonage, and countless others), it became clear that the industry has moved beyond how to do VoIP, and into the era of how make money at VoIP. This is a fantastic change for everybody, including the Asterisk community. The gold rush has started, and those of us who understand Asterisk are in a great position to "sell shovels to those heading west." Many CLECs and ISPs moving into the business are in need of solutions that work and people who can configure them. Do the math. 7. Session Border Controllers. Everybody seems to want to build walled gardens at this point. Some to keep customers from ENUMing their way to no-cost phone service, others to keep potential bad guys from abusing their resources. Nearly every presentation (at least the technical presentations) mentioned SBCs and the associated positive and negative effects they have on VoIP adoption and scalability. The jury is still out on whether the net result is positive or negative. Thoughts? [Thanks To Digium] Digium's booth became the home-away-from-home for the Asterisk community. At times there were probably 20 to 30 people crowded in and around the display. Many thanks to Mark and Greg who let all of us gather and (I hope) help pitch Asterisk and Digium. [Retraction (Steve Eats Crow)] I would like to retract a statement I made in an earlier report from the show. After sitting through two presentations by AT&T, both pitching their new CallVantage service, I indicated that VON had become Infomercial Central. I copied Carl Ford from Pulver.com on my message (he was acting as MC for the sessions). He quickly replied to my message, and the crux of his message was correct: the technology is largely in place. The next few years will be about marketing and evangelizing VoIP to the larger public. (The other half of the story has to do with a speaker who did not making it -- resulting in two AT&T presentations essentially back to back.) [Asterisk Get-Together] About 25 of us (I think) gathered at the Mexicali Grill in Santa Clara for a post-show celebration and discussion. It was a BLAST. Even as tired as most of us were (four days of trade show can wear down just about anybody) we all had a great time. It was cool to be able to put faces with names/email addresses. I think Olle Johansson took pictures of the event. They may already be on the WiKi in fact. If you ever get the chance to go to one of these events do -- if for no other reason than to see Mark's magic phone. [In Conclusion] VON was interesting. Definitely more business focused that technology focused, but that's to be expected. VoIP has grown up. Technology questions may be addressed later in the summer at the VON developers summit (anybody here planning on going?). If you are moving into the VoIP business, or want to get a feel for the market, I highly recommend you attend the Fall VON show in Boston. Opinions are mine and mine alone. Please don't blame them on anybody else. Thanks, Steve Steven Sokol Owner/Manager Sokol & Associates, LLC Phone: 816.822.1807 IaxTel: 700.613.9004 Web: http://www.sokol-associates.com _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users