ITEXPO West 2008 a Resounding Success

Some great news from TMC about our IP communications conference & expositions (ITEXPO) taking place this week that I thought I'd share. The show is still going on, with today being the last day. Yesterday's exhibit hall attendance was tremendous as seen by some photos I snapped and posted yesterday. I had some great meetings or saw many important VoIP companies, including Asterisk/Digium, CosmoCom, Fonality, Microsoft, Packet8, PIKA, Skype, and more. Many companies announced news or launched new products at ITEXPO, which is now the #1 IP communications show in the U.S. Further, in talking to two vendors I learned some interesting news coming out next week at Astricon, that I can't divulge yet, but stay tuned.

In the meantime, check out this news release put out by TMC

ITEXPO West 2008 to Generate over $1 Million for Los Angeles; Brings Next Generation Technology to the City of Angels

Leading Communications Event Attracts Largest, Most Diverse Audience of any Conference in the Internet Communications Technology Industry

Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) today announced that ITEXPO West 2008 taking place September 16-18, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, expects more than 7,000 attendees from around the world. Year after year, ITEXPO West plays a prominent role in supporting Los Angeles, with estimates of a more than $1 million influx surging into the local economy in less than three days.

ITEXPO West 2008 is the world's largest and most significant communications technology event, featuring more than 150 companies exhibiting on the EXPO floor, and hundreds of sessions led by the industry's most prominent thought leaders. Attendees are afforded unprecedented access to a diverse population of both global and local companies; in addition to executive keynote speeches from household names like Skype, Microsoft, Avaya and Texas Instruments, local companies, such as AireSpring, Fonality, Grandstream, TW Telecom, will use this conference as platform to make announcements and showcase their groundbreaking voice and video offerings.

What is also important to note, is that contrary to other declining economic sectors, IP communications and VoIP salaries had a noteworthy rise in the second quarter. OnForce, Inc., is an online jobs mart where employers and workers meet on the Internet and agree on an hourly rate. A recent report from the company showed growth in VoIP rates have increased from 1.5 to 1.95 between Q1 and Q2; VoIP jobs are now paying twice the average of all IT jobs.
"Over the past several years, we have welcomed many people from around the world who flock to the Los Angeles Convention Center each Fall to attend the Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO," commented Pouria Abbassi, P.E., CEO & General Manager of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

"Communications technology is important in every type and facet of business operations across the board, especially in Convention Center business. Knowing the communications technology of today will help anticipate and address our business issues of tomorrow. We are honored to host the ITEXPO 2008 at our World Class Los Angeles Convention Center," added Abbassi.
The show helps attendees identify the issues and challenges affecting the deployment of IP-based communications technologies. It provides a comprehensive forum for evaluating the latest products and services, and delivers a face-to-face networking opportunity that service providers, carriers, resellers, distributors, equipment manufacturers, and IT executives from enterprise and SMB companies need to cultivate new business relationships.

"Converged applications that leverage VoIP and video-over-the Internet are diving our industry forward, and may very well be one of the few silver linings in an otherwise dismal economy," said Rich Tehrani, TMC president and ITEXPO West 2008 conference chairman. "Clearly, this technology is here to stay as over 16 million U.S. consumer VoIP lines were in service by the first quarter of 2008, according to new data released by TeleGeography, representing nearly 14 percent of all households and 27 percent of broadband households.
"It is a no-brainer for us to host this event in Los Angeles at the Convention Center, as this facility and this City are second to none."

The expo hours for ITEXPO West are: Wednesday, Sept 17th from 4:00 to 8:00 PM, and on Thursday Sept 18th from 11:00 AM until 5:00 PM.

Free expo passes are still available, and interested attendees should visit https://www.tmcnet.com/scripts/itexpo/ca08/itfall08reg.aspx?theplan=D for more information. In addition to educational content and new product information for today's latest communications technology, ITEXPO also features several vendor promotions -- including the Toyota Prius Hybrid Giveaway, which is free to participate, with no purchases necessary. For more information on this exciting promotion, please visit: http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/west-08/w08-prizes.htm.