Calysto Overview
 
UBM's Enterprise Connect conference in Orlando brings corporate IT decision makers together with vendors, analysts, media and consultants focused on what encompasses today’s enterprise communications: mobility, video conferencing, data, voice, bring your own device (BYOD), Unified Communications, SIP trunking, social networks and applications, and, of course, the Cloud.

Back in the 1990's, this event was called the PBX Conference, and then in 2000 it became VoiceCon. But to me it was more reminiscent of VON. Most of the same players (with the addition of the big guys) targeting the enterprise instead of the service providers. And UBM does a fantastic job attracting the right audience.  Today’s Enterprise Connect has moved from a voice-related systems focus to cover voice, video and data, both wireless and wireline, both real-time and non-real-time.( Exhibitors this year included Avaya, Cisco, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Mitel, NEC, ShoreTel, Siemens, AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent, Comcast, Verizon and others.).

Attendance at this year’s event was up from previous years, which some attributed to improved IT budgets. Undoubtedly another factor is the need for IT professionals to have a face-to-face resource to grapple with the hot issues they face every day, such as employees using their own devices, as well as social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and video chat sites as part of their jobs.
UBM provided live broadcasts of the keynotes from Avaya, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Siemens Enterprise Communications and Verizon as they discussed UC, mobility, collaboration and the Cloud and they were for the most part, standing room only.

This year’s conference tracks covered cloud-based communications services and systems; managing and securing converged networks; mobility; SIP trunking; social apps and networks; unified communications and video.

“Cloud, technology populism, video, and integrated solutions were in evidence throughout the show,” according to Forrester’s Henry Dewing. “The least mentioned term this week? Social! IBM is stressing the use of and need for enterprise social software, but few buyers seem to get it yet. I predict that the term ‘social’ will be used as often at Enterprise Connect next year as ‘Cloud’ was this year.”
 

Industry analyst Blair Pleasant observed, “To me, the biggest take away was that vendors are starting to focus their unified communications and collaboration efforts more than ever on the user experience. This has implications for enterprises, vendors, and the channel.”. . . “the ability to demonstrate the ease of use of UC&C products will help close sales more quickly. The demos we’re seeing today are much more compelling than what was available even a year ago, when it was still relatively complex to set up conferences, video calls, etc.”

The Innovation Showcase that debuted at last year’s Enterprise Connect returned. Four “winning” companies were selected to participate in the showcase, and each presented their solution on the keynote stage, as well as exhibited in the Innovation Showcase booth. (They received these as well as several other amenities for free.)
Andrew Filev, CEO, Wrike, one of this year’s winners, told us, “The event went great for us. A lot of companies discovered Wrike at the Innovation Showcase and were very interested in our product. So we got a lot of visitors to our booth on the expo floor afterwards. Some existing and past customers stopped by, too, and meeting them added to the overall positive impression of the event.”

Media and analysts covering the enterprise communications space were well represented at this show, offering plenty of opportunity for briefings. After more than two decades and various iterations, Enterprise Connect remains a strong show for media and analysts relations, exhibiting, speaking and lead generation for those in the evolving enterprise communications ecosystem.

Next year: Enterprise Connect will be held March 18-21, 2013 in Orlando.

Articles of Interest

Telepresence Options Wraps Up Enterprise Connect 2012
Telepresence Options
David S. Maldow
April 3, 2012

Enterprise Connect 2012 – It’s About the User Experience
Unified Communications Strategies
By Blair Pleasant
April 2, 2012

RIM Quarterly Post-Mortem
Information Week
David F. Carr
March 30, 2012

Enterprise Networking: Cisco, Avaya, Others Push UC, Collaboration at Enterprise Connect
eWeek.com
By Jeffrey Burt
March 30, 2012

A Resurgence in Information Technology
Barron’s
March 29, 2012

IT execs must deal soon with worker use of social tools
ComputerWorld
By Sharon Gaudin
March 29, 2012

BYOD Policy Or Buy Everyone An iPhone?
Information Week
David F. Carr
March 29, 2012

Will Social Show Its Face In Unified Communications?
Information Week
David F. Carr
March 29, 2012

Virtualization, Unified Communications Meet, At Last
Information Week
David F. Carr
March 29, 2012

Avaya Brings UC, Video Collaboration to the Cloud
eWeek
By: Jeffrey Burt
March 28, 2012

Enterprise Connect: IT managers talk BYOD
RCR Wireless
By Martha DeGrasse
March 27, 2012

AstraZeneca Pilots Microsoft Lync For Better Collaboration
Information Week
David F. Carr
March 28, 2012

Cisco Unified Communications Play Includes iPad
Information Week
David F. Carr
March 27, 2012

Enterprise Connect: Mobile Unified Communications Still Hard
Information Week
David F. Carr
March 27, 2012

Ramblings From Enterprise Connect #EC12
Forrester
By Henry Dewing
March 29, 2012

Day 1 of Enterprise Connect: Cloud Confusion
No Jitter
By Zeus Kerravala
March 26, 2012

Throughout his career, Jason has provided both financial and market analysis related to global fixed and mobile access infrastructure, optical transport, managed/professional services, consumer broadband services and issues impacting network buildouts in rural America.

In addition to leading the RCR Wireless News editorial team, Jason will be responsible for heading up RCR's efforts at deepening its existing relationships with the worldwide analyst community, driving increased visibility at industry events and launching RCR's original TV programming.

Attendance:  approximately 800
Exhibitors:  99
Media and analysts: less than 15

Calysto Overview

While we here at Calysto have covered the RCA events in PR Vibes™ for several years, this year is the first year we have felt strongly compelled to attend and cover the event in-person. Why is that? Well, you probably see a lot of what we’ve seen happening. CTIA is more and more becoming an association for Verizon and AT&T…While the Rural Cellular Association is providing an opportunity for rural and regional wireless carriers to stay involved in advocacy issues. At RCA's Competitive Carriers Global Expo 2012, the carriers gain knowledge about the latest technologies and opportunities for growth, particularly around LTE, roaming, and rapid 4G deployments. With the addition of new members Sprint, Cricket Communications and T-Mobile, the RCA now represents virtually every wireless carrier in the U.S., with the exception of AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

As Wireless Week’s Maisie Ramsay wrote,” The Rural Cellular Association (RCA) isn’t just for rural providers any more – it has emerged as a force willing to tangle with telecom Goliaths AT&T and Verizon Wireless.”

Held March 28 - 30 at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort in Orlando, this year’s spring event drew more than 800 attendees. This was the largest of RCA’s “small show” in history, with a very strong showing from carrier members, according to conference organizers. (In 2011 RCA flipped its two shows. Moving the larger show, known as the Expo, to the Fall and the smaller event to the spring. A decision that was very well received by all audiences.)

This year’s spring theme was “Connecting Communities in a 4G World” and discussions in sessions and throughout the event touched on finding a pathway to 4G LTE, heterogeneous networks, access to devices, mobile security, mobile wallets and best practices for competing with the largest, national carriers.
Keynotes came from Sprint, Cricket Communications, LightSquared, and Alcatel-Lucent, addressing the challenges and opportunities for competitive carriers as device requirements and consumer expectations require more from their networks.

At the conference, RCA announced the availability of its “Carrier Approved” Android App Store as part of its new Industry Ecosystem Development Program initiative designed to help RCA members be more competitive. This is one of many new initiatives being put together by the RCA by its new Vice President, Industry Development, Bradley Blanken.

RCA is definitely still working out some kinks – with some of the panels left without internet access and a poor first day floor showing (Who really wants to go to the show floor at 4:00 in the afternoon anyway?) But the sold-out exhibit hall of 99 booths included many long-time RCA members and new member exhibitors as well, such as Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Juniper Networks, Cycle30, Globecomm and others, with many participants commenting that it was a productive show.

As for media, FierceWireless and Wireless Week were among those attending and RCR Wireless TV provided live updates and interviews from the show, offering plenty of opportunities for exhibitors to raise awareness of their brand. (The rest of the media hasn’t figured out what a gem this is.)

Overall, we think you should watch this association and its events. If you are selling to carriers (any besides AT&T & Verizon) in the US, this association is an up-and-comer. Stay tuned. The RCA's Competitive Carriers Global Expo is scaled to ensure effective networking, yet large enough to ensure members have access to technologies targeted to their market. We’ll also be attending and covering the RCA Fall Expo, September 23-26, 2012 in Las Vegas.

Articles of Interest

C Spire promises 'full suite' of LTE devices for September launch
Fierce Wireless
By Phil Goldstein
April 2, 2012

Q&A: RCA Versus the ‘Duopoly’
Wireless Week
By Maisie Ramsay
March 27, 2012

RCA alters bylaws to accommodate larger operators
Fierce Wireless
By Sue Marek
March 19, 2012

T-Mobile joins RCA, bolstering rural carrier group's ranks
Fierce Wireless
By Phil Goldstein
March 13, 2012

RCR Wireless Livecasts at 2012 RCA Global Expo   

Synergy has also hired Joseph Marayag as its first analyst to be based in the Asia-Pac region. Joseph previously spent five years as a Research Analyst for ISS, a Morgan Stanley Capital International company. He is now based in TeleGeography’s Singapore office and will help Synergy to strengthen its research and operations in the Asia-Pac region.

Attendees: 11,500
Exhibitors: 340
Media: est. 100

Calystyo Overview

The annual SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition is pretty much a staple event for those implementing satellite-enabled networks. This year was the show’s 31st and, according to conference organizer Access Intelligence, drew approximately 11,500 satellite communications professionals from 70 countries to the Washington Convention Center. Organizers were pleased, touting the bump over last year’s 10,000 attendance figures.

The number of companies exhibiting this year increased as well. For 2012, exhibitors grew to 350, and covered more than 70,000 net square feet of exhibit space. Additionally, more than 50 were first time exhibitors, such as AKD ICT Co., Ltd., Alcantara Cyclone Space, AtlantecRF, BusinessCom Networks, Cernex, Fraunhofer, IAI - Israel Aerospace Industries, Jenco Technologies, Inc., Jersey Microwave, Mician GmbH, Philtech, Romantis, SEAKR Engineering, and Yahsat.

What was there? As TMC’s Rich Steeves wrote, “Need a de-icer for your satellite dish? How about a rugged case to lug your satellite phone through the wilds of Afghanistan? Well, if you're looking for all this and more, then the Satellite 2012 Conference is where you should be.”

Conference organizers maintained that the buzz on the show floor was much more bullish than during the last few years of the worldwide economic downturn. In fact, more than 230 companies have signed up for exhibit space for 2013.

This event covers all markets of the satellite community – military, commercial businesses, financial institutions, broadcasting, government, manufacturers and telecommunications – and the strong conference program is typically a big draw. Overall, this is a good event to try to obtain speaking opportunities.

More than 60 panel sessions covered topics such as new markets, launch services, satellite manufacturing and technology, regulatory initiatives, financing, and global industry-wide financial performance, as well as more specific interests such as satellite in-orbit lifetime extension, government and military video and broadcast markets, and maritime satcom opportunities.

During the popular opening general session --  The Big Four: At the Center of the Satellite Universe --  chief executives from the world’s four largest satellite operators discussed the future of the satellite marketplace. This year’s panel included Romain Bausch, President and CEO of SES; Michel de Rosen, CEO of Eutelsat; Daniel Goldberg, CEO of Telesat; and David McGlade, CEO of Intelsat.

According to Access Intelligence, these were the key trends at SATELLITE 2012:

• The widespread adoption of Ka-band systems and deployment of services designed to deliver substantially higher throughput at a much lower cost per bit.
• The increasingly blurred line between traditional FSS services and expanding MSS offerings and the ongoing convergence of these services from the perspective of the end-user.
• The anticipated dip in revenues associated with government/military satellite services as hostilities and deployments wind down worldwide.
• Strong revenues for satellite operators tempered with concern that current growth and profitability rates may be slowing a bit as new capacity becomes available.
• The role and prospects for widespread adoption of a hosted payload approach to special and surge capacity requirements in the marketplace.
• The continued evolution of SpaceX and its Falcon 9 launch vehicle and the return to service of Sea Launch, coupled with developments for Arianespace, ILS, and even CGWIC’s Long March.

There were plenty of opportunities for media relations with press and analysts covering the satellite ecosystem and many of the exhibitors announced new contracts, launches and products. While there wasn’t a lot of social media activity surrounding this event, someone did put up a Pinterest board of SATELLITE 2012 photos from the show.

Co-located with the SATELLITE 2012 Conference and Exhibition for the fourth year in a row was the Mobile Satellite Users Association Conference (MSUA-9).

With a singular focus, the SATELLITE conference and exhibition is a strong show for all markets of the satellite community – telecommunications, military, commercial businesses, financial institutions, broadcasting, government, and manufacturers. It’s a good venue to build relations with media and analysts covering satellite communications, as well as networking and lead generation.

Upcoming: SATELLITE 2013, March 18 - 21, 2013, Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C.

Articles of Interest

Hosted Payloads May Be Just 1% of Sat Market
Aviation Week
By Frank Morring, Jr.
Mar 27, 2012

Live From Satellite 2012: Few Fireworks On LightSquared Panel
Communications Technology
By Debra Baker
March 12, 2012
VIA Satellite Magazine
Satellite 2012 Show Wrap Up - Center of the Satellite Universe
Microwave Journal
By Pat Hindle
March 17, 2012

Arabsat, Eutelsat Heads Open To Compromise over Orbital Slot
Space News
By Peter B. de Selding
March 16, 2012

Iridium CEO Desch Outlines Next Steps for Iridium NEXT
Satellite Today Insider
Jeffrey Hill
March 15, 2012

More satellites means more SATCOM gridlock
Government Computer News
By Henry Kenyon
Mar 15, 2012

Satellite 2012 Showcases Breadth of Market
TMCNet
By Rich Steeves
March 12, 2012