VoiceCon: Industry Heavyweights Roll Out New VoIP Wares

Big-name executives from companies like Avaya, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Nortel Networks are scheduled to give keynote addresses that will shine the spotlight on new products and share their vision for the future of the voice market. The Orlando, Fla. conference, which is expected to draw 6,500 attendees, is run by CMP Technology, the parent company of CRN.

Slide Show: VoiceCon Sneak Peek

What all of these vendors and many of their peers have in common is the recognition that the need for mobility is front-and-center for customers as they consider their telecommunications options.

Solution providers see it, too, particularly as solutions built to deliver unified communications, single-number access and convergence between wireless and cellular networks become a reality.

"There are a lot of road warriors out there that want to have the freedom to move around. They're on the road most of the time and just come into the office to do paperwork," said Stephen Lurie, vice president of voice at Troubadour, a Houston-based solution provider. "The ability to give clients one number to reach them wherever they are is very attractive for them," Lurie said.

The biggest mobility problem solution providers can help customers solve is bringing together all of the disparate communications systems they need to deal with, said Mont Phelps, president and CEO of NWN, a solution provider in Waltham, Mass. "They've got multiple phone numbers, voicemails, e-mails and contact points, and its just become burdensome," he said.

Next: New products from Cisco