Network World isn't the only network industry thought-leader celebrating its 20th anniversary this year - the Interop conference and expo, happening May 1-4 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas is 20, too.

Networks and Interop have seen plenty of changes in those years: the emergence of Internet and IP, the dot-com rise and fall, the emergence of wireless and the changing global IT security landscape. The show also has evolved since its incarnation as NetWorld+Interop - which was mostly a collection of engineers gathering to make their stuff work together.

The emergence of networks from mundane corporate infrastructure to a key business tool and asset is reflected in changes and additions to the Interop education program and the overall theme of the show this year, Interop executives say.

"Changes in Interop over the years represent the maturing of the role the network plays in businesses," says Lenny Heymann, Interop general manager.

The breadth of technologies covered in the various Interop tracks - Application Networks, Data Center, Infrastructure & Services, Open Source, Security, Storage, VoIP & Collaboration, Wireless & Mobility - reflect this, as do the business- and strategy-focused workshops such as the CIO Boot Camp.

Emerging technology trends at this spring's Interop will focus on data center technology and virtualization of storage and servers, says Steve Wylie, director of content for Interop, with a two-day Data Center Summit, hosted by Nemertes Research. Hot topics this year in data centers include consolidation of servers and storage on the hardware side, Asynchronous JavaScript + XML and service-oriented architecture Web services programming with the software angle.

On the other side of that coin, branch-office technologies also will be featured on the show floor, with an InteropLabs setup demonstrating the latest products in branch-office network technology from Cisco, Network Devices and others.

"And of course wireless and mobility have been big for years, in terms of Interop educational focus and technology demonstrations," Wylie says. This continues this year, but with an extended focus on wireless strategies in terms of business drivers. "Some senior IT people may not want to know how WiMAX works," down to the protocol radio frequency levels, he says. The Wireless & Mobility conference track has also been expanded, with more speakers and, most importantly, more room for the sessions, Wylie says.