Text Box: Takeaways I noted several ways in which this conference differed in emphasis from the last VoiceCon I attended, two years ago: First, there has been an obvious strengthening of a commitment among enterprise users to migrate their data networks to accommodate voice. To me, typical attendees at this conference were individuals responsible for data network growth and development who now realize that the accommodation of voice on their network has become a mission-critical inevitability. As a result, they attended this conference to learn more of the myriad migration issues they will be expected to address in the years ahead. I also noted the increasing complexity of the 2005 marketplace for equipment and services related to converged voice and data networks, compared to 2003. Virtual workplace issues, for example, are now having a profound effect on plans to evolve contact centers, and on network security, network management, and messaging. In the present state of the market for enterprise communications equipment and services, each of these areas could easily be a standalone conference topic. Mobility emerged quite strongly at this conference as a complex, multi-faceted network development issue, as did the concept of detecting and managing “presence” as it relates to communication availability for individuals. Notably, Avaya demonstrated its dual-network mobile handset, both on the show floor, and in private sessions with consultants. This dual-network device, yet unnamed, has been developed in conjunction with

Text Box: This past February, VoiceCon 2005 bid to be the dominant end user conference oriented to voice communications and network convergence issues. VoiceCon industry conferences are produced by Business Communi-cations Review, a division of MediaLive International (BCR/MediaLive). They are growing in popularity among STC consultants. A Full House Attendance at this VoiceCon 2005 event, held at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel near Orlando, exceeded 4,500. I was able to be there for all but the last day. By far, this was the largest VoiceCon conference in the 15-year history of the event, for both attendees and exhibitors, represent-ting an attendance increase of 25% over last year. The first day’s general sessions were standing room only, parking lots were overfilled, and the bars and restaurants in the immediate hotel area were consistently busy. The STC Contingent During my time at the conference, I saw at least 13 other STC consultant members, including Byron Battles, Barb Grothe, Rick Hathaway, Dick Kuehn, Steve Leaden, Jim O’Gorman, Dave Peterson, Janet Smith, John Thompson, Lori Thompson, Sara Uzel, Don Van Doren, and Michael Weller, who were all busy sitting in at conference sessions, meeting with end user clients, or attending the lavish consultant-only events hosted by Avaya, Cisco and Siemens. NEC Unified Solutions was this year’s Diamond Level event sponsor. Michael Weller, Dick Kuehn and Don Van Doren and were also conference speakers.

Motorola and Proxim to seamlessly hand off individual calls, while in session, between an IP PBX network, where it functions as a wireless station extension, and the PSTN network, where it functions as a (GSM) cellular phone. The set, still in pre-release, will share a single phone number and voice mailbox in both network modes.

¨ The major equipment manufacturers are now addressing convergence with respect to both IP telephony applications at the enterprise level and the growing global market for enhanced instant messaging (IM) capabilities. Thus, vendors are addressing enterprise users and broad market users, especially teenagers worldwide, who are likely to represent a more fluid source of near-term revenue.

¨ It is interesting that IM, a rapidly growing, global trend, appears to translate into more immediate profit opportunities for many manufacturers than enterprise IP telephony applications, which are evolving more slowly. This would seem to create the potential for priority conflicts between marketing and research and development expenditures for IM and IP telephony, when these budgets are limited.

VoiceCon 2005 Fall

BCR/MediaLive will hold a first-ever fall VoiceCon conference later this year at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. Dates for this event are August 29 through September 1. Watch for an announcement of enrollment dis-counts for STC consultant members in the form of a specific VIP registration code before the end of June.

STC Well-Represented at VoiceCon 2005 By HENRY BAIRD