* The telecom industry convenes this week at the inaugural Globalcomm
The telecom industry convenes this week at the second of the two major trade shows spawned from the dissolution of the Supercomm conference.
The inaugural Globalcomm kicks off following the separation of Supercomm’s joint sponsors, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the United States Telecom Association. After collaborating on Supercomm for 18 years, the organizations went their separate ways after last year’s Supercomm.
The USTA launched TelecomNext earlier this year; now it’s the TIA’s turn, just as the industry pauses from the frenetic consolidation pace among carriers and their suppliers. And Globalcomm promises to be just as busy as Supercomm was last year, according to Matt Flaningan, TIA president.
Attendance, exhibition space and exhibitors will be close to Supercomm 2005 numbers, Flanigan says. As of two weeks ago, Globalcomm booked 20,000 attendees from 104 countries, and 500 exhibitors strutting their stuff across 230,000 square feet of exhibition space.
“It’s truly a global event,” Flanigan says of Globalcomm.
This compares with 28,000 people from 105 countries perusing products from 700 exhibitors at Supercomm 2005. TelecomNext, held in Las Vegas in March, was about half the size, with 10,000+ attendees, 275 exhibitors and 215,000 square feet of exhibition space. But what TelecomNext lacked in size was more than made up for in content – CEOs from major carriers, media companies, regulators and enterprises delivered candid comments on a range of controversial topics, such as ‘Net Neutrality.
Expect more of the same at Globalcomm. ‘Net Neutrality will be one of the hotter topics at the show, along with IP TV, IMS, VoIP, wiretapping, disaster recovery, Ethernet business services, fixed/mobile convergence, and issues and challenges with enabling the mobile enterprise.
“We feel very good about what’s going on,” Flanigan says of the conference’s content.
