SIP Trunking, cloud, mobility, Avaya-Nortel, Microsoft Wave 14, video conferencing: these are just a few of the issues that I think will be dominating discussion in Orlando.
Here are some of the things I'll be on the lookout for at VoiceCon Orlando next week:* Are SIP trunks really available widely enough, via mature enough carrier offerings, to really deliver the savings and benefits that they promise?
* Are enterprises seriously considering cloud-based communications, to a more significant degree than they were a year ago? Can carriers/service providers deliver enterprise-grade services from the cloud?
* To what extent have enterprises (and their suppliers and carriers) managed to integrate mobility into their core communications platforms and services for the enterprise end user?
* How's Avaya's integration of Nortel's products and people going?
* Is Cisco really shifting a significant portion of its value proposition to the cloud/network? Or are they locked into their role as the incumbent IP-PBX leader, and thus finding it difficult to shift the model?
* How close is Microsoft to making Wave 14, its third release of OCS, a deployable product? And what will Wave 14's debut mean to the enterprise and Microsoft's competitors?
* Is interoperability in Unified Communications even a remote prospect?
* Is video coming to a meaningful number of enterprise desktops in the next 12-18 months, and if so, why?
You know this barely scratches the surface. We wouldn't need three and a half days to cover the industry if these were the only questions. But I think this covers many of the big ones.
And of course we build the VoiceCon program with the aim of answering what we believe are the biggest questions in the industry. So it's no surprise that I think these questions will be addressed in a serious way, if not in every instance answered definitively. There are some highlights that I'm particularly looking forward to in this regard:
* For the second year in a row, Avaya CEO Kevin Kennedy will deliver the opening keynote, and I'm especially pleased that he and his team at Avaya have opted to give over much of his time to audience Q&A. This is a very savvy thing to do in light of the fact that this is the first Voice Con keynote for Kennedy since the Nortel acquisition closed.
In general, I have to say I'm impressed with the way Avaya has handled its communications in the early days of the acquisition taking effect. They've made all their deadlines for the deal closing and the roadmap announcement and have been proactive about making specific announcements around the SME and contact center portfolios. Nobody can predict what the future holds as this thing actually plays out, but Avaya is wise to put Kennedy out there and invite enterprise users - all of whom have some Avaya and/or Nortel gear - to quiz him about their concerns.
* We have a special "Spotlight on Video" track that will dig into technical and market issues, and I'm looking to see if video is still as hot a topic as it was a year ago. With Cisco's one-two punch - the Tandberg acquisition together with the launch of its massive new carrier-class router (see Zeus's No Jitter post), it's clear they intend to drive this market. And we've seen that Cisco can drive a market when they want to. But if video is going to follow mobility's path in the enterprise, from ad hoc, user-driven bolt-on to integral part of the enterprise-sanctioned and controlled infrastructure, there are a host of details that have to be worked out. And our video experts, led by Wainhouse Research, John Bartlett of NetForecast, and Scott Wharton of VidTel, have two days of sessions exploring these details.
That just starts the discussion, and as is always the case, VoiceCon will very likely be the place where the discussion is advanced but by no means settled.
What are you looking for?SIP Trunking, cloud, mobility, Avaya-Nortel, Microsoft Wave 14, video conferencing: these are just a few of the issues that I think will be dominating discussion in Orlando.
