The Jeff Pulver Blog: Mercator Capital's Fall VON 2006 Preview:

« Watch “PR Professionals Gone Wild” @ Fall 2006 VON! | Main | Aswath Almost Scoops My Talk at Fall 2006 VON »

September 08, 2006

Mercator Capital's Fall VON 2006 Preview:

I just received a copy of Mercator Capital's September Newsletter and I couldn't help but notice their write up of Fall 2006 VON. After reading it I reached out to Mercator and asked for permission to include the following in my blog. Looking forward to seeing everyone in Boston!

---

Fall VON 2006 Preview

Pulvermedia’s VON conference marks its 10 th anniversary in Boston, and the Fall show runs from September 11-14. Ten years is a very long time in the IP world, and this particular show will be notable for both looking ahead and reflecting on how far things have come since the very first VON in 1996. Jeff Pulver is a leading bellwether and advocate of all things IP, and he’s had ongoing success in his many ventures and initiatives that cover the gamut in this space.

The VON conference is Pulver’s anchor event, and Jeff recently noted on his widely followed blog (http://pulverblog.pulver.com/) that both Spring VON and Fall VON made the list of the fastest growing trade show in Tradeshow Week magazine. Aside from VON, Jeff has built a mini-empire with various media properties, including regional VON events around the world, VON Magazine, and budding enterprises such as podcasting and videocasting.

Aside from marking VON’s 10 th anniversary, Fall VON 2006 is also important for its updated focus. To date, VON conferences have been built around Voice over IP, and over the years, VON has become the premier event for VoIP. Recognizing that VoIP has evolved from fiction to fact, Jeff has been introducing more content related to video and broadcasting in recent shows. Fall VON 2006 marks the debut of their first show with a full program of content focused solely on video. In addition to the regular VON program, Video on the Net will have its own program that looks at the disruptive impact that IP is having on the broadcasting sector.

So now, the “V” in VON appears to be just as much about video as voice. VON is still the go-to show for VoIP, and Video on the Net is hoping to do the same for its space. Video has been a minor component of previous VONs, but in the past year it has become clear that IP is starting to impact broadcasting much the way it has already done for the telecom sector. If anything, the impact is going to be greater since the stakes are high for both the transport channels and the content. Voice is a fairly one-dimensional application when compared to video, and the issues are far more complex, especially on the content side.

There will certainly be much to explore at Video on the Net. With IP being a more mature technology today, the groundwork has been laid and things are evolving now at a rapid pace. One need look no further to how quickly YouTube has become a household name in just a few months, and already, media companies have sprung up to produce content that is exclusive to the Internet. Conventional broadcasters and content producers are waking up to the fact that changes are coming quickly and that the Internet is posing the same kind of threat – or opportunity, depending on your view – that television posed for the film industry in the 1950s.

And if voice and video are not enough reason to follow this conference, Fall VON also presents a number of other tracks that are highly relevant in their own right. While Video on the Net addresses the overall broadcasting sector, it is not just about IPTV, which itself is an important movement just gaining momentum. Video on the Net will look at television, but as one of several elements of broadcasting. IPTV is really a separate topic because it pertains to the path telcos are taking to compete against the bundles being offered by the cablecos. On this front, the Pulver organization has partnered with Telephony Magazine to produce an IPTV Summit.

Moving further out, Fall VON has three additional tracks that focus on more vertical aspects of the IP communications space. Expo Plus targets enterprise IP, so this is the place to see how both large and small businesses are deploying the various flavors of IP. Drilling down a bit further, they have partnered with Wainhouse Research to bring their Collaboration Service Providers Summit under the VON arena. Collaboration and conferencing applications are becoming important productivity tools with IP, enough so that VON feels it warrants a dedicated focus. And finally, we have Open Source, which seems to have become a staple of all IP shows in the past year. Pulver has done a lot to build ties with this community, especially Asterisk, and has developed a standalone track on Open Source IP PBX.

VON usually attracts big names and bright lights, and the Fall show has a full roster of thought leaders from both Tier 1 service providers and leading edge disruptors. One could argue the show is trying to be too many things to too many people, as VON has never covered such a broad range of topics. There may be some truth to that as it will be impossible to take in everything unless you’re sending a large team. You won’t be able to take in the totality of IP communications this well anywhere else, and if there was ever a time to explore the IP community, this is it.

As always, Mercator will be present at VON, meeting with current and prospective clients. If you’d like to get together at the show to discuss M&A, funding requirements, company strategy, or just industry trends in general, please contact Mike Myshrall at mmyshrall@mercatorcapital.com to arrange a meeting.

---

Click here to subscribe to Mercator's monthly newsletter

Source: Mercator Capital - IP Communication Newsletter
(reprinted with permission.)

Tags: VoIP, VON, Jeff Pulver