[Asterisk-Users] Spring VON Wrap Up

[Steven Sokol]

Having just returned from four days at the VON show in Santa Clara, I
thought I would submit a "highlights" message.  I hope others who attended
the show will take the opportunity to add, as there was far more to see than
I can cover on my own.

[VoIP IS BIG]
First, I have to say that VoIP is BIG.  It is the buzz technology of the
day.  The show was packed, and everybody there was there for a reason.  Jeff
Pulver, in his introductory remarks told us the "walking dead" count was
zero and he was right.  Wall-to-wall VoIP people.

[Who Was There]
The crowd was a mix of service providers (including CLECs, VoIP pure-plays,
ISPs adding VoIP as a service, etc.) and VoIP product vendors looking to
sell solutions to the providers.  Also sprinkled into the group were
regulators from the FCC, advocates for various technologies, representatives
from various industry groups, and a fair number of lawyers.  Perhaps the
most interesting story here was the nearly even split between US citizens
and those from other nations.

[What Was Hot]

1.  SIP.  Every presentation I saw mentioned SIP at some point.  While it
has been obvious for some time that SIP is poised to become _the_ standard
for telecom in the this century, the constant repetition is a good indicator
that the standards wars are actually over and SIP stands as the survivor.

2.  Presence.  Everybody wants to know when and where everybody is at all
times.  Buddy lists are in, dial-pads are out.  The message is also clear
that presence will go beyond online/away/offline to include actual
geographic location.  It will also move away from device-centric presence
(knowing that a cell phone is on) to user-centric presence (knowing how a
user wants to communicate at the time).  We need to add presence to
Asterisk.  Now.

3.  Asterisk.  While those of us in the Asterisk community have known for
some time that Asterisk can do nearly anything, given a bit of time and
effort, the word seems to have spread.  Asterisk was mentioned in Keynotes,
Industry Perspectives, the Town Hall meeting, and in numerous breakout
sessions.  Hundreds of people came by the Digium/Asterisk booth to either
find out more about the system, or to crow about what they are doing with
Asterisk.  In a feat of irony worthy of mention, Pingtel announced their new
SIP Forge organization over an audio conference hosted on an Asterisk
system.  Asterisk is definitely hot.

4. EoIP (Everything Over IP).  The lingo of the trade seems to be changing
as things mature.  Voice is just one application among many.  Robert Pepper
of the FCC described that agency's focus as moving to IP communications in
general, rather than simply Voice.  This makes sense.  Voice really _is_
just one of many modes of communication, and a long way away from the
original VoIP service.

5. Regulatory Concerns.  Several of the presenters brought up social an
legal issues related to VoIP, and the associated government regulations that
follow.  E911 service and CALEA (wiretapping) were both the big concerns, as
was inter-carrier compensation and taxation.  Dr. Pepper indicated that he
was pleased with the direction that the VoIP market is going, in terms of
the voluntary compliance with the relevant rules from the existing PSTN
regs.  He indicated that the FCC was, for the time being, willing to
regulate minimally -- following the same model used for the Wireless
carriers over the past decade.

6. VoIP Broadband Services.  With AT&T's announcement that it was moving
into the residential and business VoIP market (joining Packet8, Vonage, and
countless others), it became clear that the industry has moved beyond how to
do VoIP, and into the era of how make money at VoIP.  This is a fantastic
change for everybody, including the Asterisk community.  The gold rush has
started, and those of us who understand Asterisk are in a great position to
"sell shovels to those heading west."  Many CLECs and ISPs moving into the
business are in need of solutions that work and people who can configure
them.  Do the math.

7. Session Border Controllers.  Everybody seems to want to build walled
gardens at this point.  Some to keep customers from ENUMing their way to
no-cost phone service, others to keep potential bad guys from abusing their
resources.  Nearly every presentation (at least the technical presentations)
mentioned SBCs and the associated positive and negative effects they have on
VoIP adoption and scalability.  The jury is still out on whether the net
result is positive or negative.  Thoughts?

[Thanks To Digium]
Digium's booth became the home-away-from-home for the Asterisk community.
At times there were probably 20 to 30 people crowded in and around the
display.  Many thanks to Mark and Greg who let all of us gather and (I hope)
help pitch Asterisk and Digium.

[Retraction (Steve Eats Crow)]
I would like to retract a statement I made in an earlier report from the
show.  After sitting through two presentations by AT&T, both pitching their
new CallVantage service, I indicated that VON had become Infomercial
Central.  I copied Carl Ford from Pulver.com on my message (he was acting as
MC for the sessions).  He quickly replied to my message, and the crux of his
message was correct: the technology is largely in place.  The next few years
will be about marketing and evangelizing VoIP to the larger public.  (The
other half of the story has to do with a speaker who did not making it --
resulting in two AT&T presentations essentially back to back.)

[Asterisk Get-Together]
About 25 of us (I think) gathered at the Mexicali Grill in Santa Clara for a
post-show celebration and discussion.  It was a BLAST.  Even as tired as
most of us were (four days of trade show can wear down just about anybody)
we all had a great time.  It was cool to be able to put faces with
names/email addresses.  I think Olle Johansson took pictures of the event.
They may already be on the WiKi in fact.  If you ever get the chance to go
to one of these events do -- if for no other reason than to see Mark's magic
phone.

[In Conclusion]
VON was interesting.  Definitely more business focused that technology
focused, but that's to be expected.  VoIP has grown up.  Technology
questions may be addressed later in the summer at the VON developers summit
(anybody here planning on going?).  If you are moving into the VoIP
business, or want to get a feel for the market, I highly recommend you
attend the Fall VON show in Boston.

Opinions are mine and mine alone.  Please don't blame them on anybody else.

Thanks,

Steve

Steven Sokol
Owner/Manager
Sokol & Associates, LLC

Phone:  816.822.1807
IaxTel: 700.613.9004
Web:    http://www.sokol-associates.com