IT EXPO & San Diego: A Winning Combination

By Erik Linask

Associate Editor,
Internet Telephony magazine

 

Question:  What do Nate Kaeding and Rich Tehrani have in common?

Answer:  Both kicked off successful events in San Diego this week.

 

On Tuesday morning, TMC president and conference chairman Rich Tehrani officially kicked off INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO West 2006 in San Diego, just as Kaeding kicked off to open the Chargers’ campaign against the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday night.

 

Here’s the scene. The sun was shining, the sky was blue—a perfect day to open IT EXPO. And so, after a quiet Monday, the San Diego Convention Center awoke Tuesday morning, alive and with a distinct buzz about it. 

 

Vendors were busy setting up booth spaces; event staff was busy ensuring all preparations had been made; speakers and conference attendees could be seen milling about.  In short, compared to the calmness that permeated the Convention Center on Monday, there was no disguising that something was happening Tuesday.

 

By 10:00 a.m., lines had formed at the registration desk, full of conference attendees ready to hear the opening keynote, followed by the first day’s conference sessions, which included TMC University and tracks focusing on conferencing & collaboration, open source, large enterprises, and service providers, as well as sessions targeting specific verticals.

 

Tehrani noted IT EXPO’s return to San Diego—it once was held on the island of Coronado, between the Pacific Ocean and San Diego Bay—and commented on the wealth of information to be gleaned from next three days at the show. He then introduced the opening keynoter, 8x8’s Bryan Martin, whose address began with congratulations to Tehrani and TMC on having published the 100^th issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY.

 

Martin proceeded to talk about the evolution of the telephony industry, and pointed out the number of companies, just in Silicon Valley, that play in the space. Indeed, 8x8’s (News - Alert) own flagship service, Packet8, is a testament to the growth of the IP Communications industry; 8x8 itself began as a chip company, not a telephony provider.

 

Even though the majority of conference attendees may not yet be registered (or even arrived in San Diego), the steady flow of traffic on Tuesday morning holds promise that this will be the most successful IT EXPO yet. More than 9,000 attendees are expected. 

 

Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of the most comprehensive IP Communications event of the year. Come to ITEXPO, where you will have access to the most knowledgeable companies in the field, who are all here to meet you. At the end of the week, you’ll be glad you came. 

 

Given the excitement in the air, the program the team at TMC has compiled, and the number of attendees that pre-registered, this event is destined to live up to expectations—as did Kaeding and the Chargers.