VoIP, UC, Gators & More: 20 Scenes From VoiceCon Orlando 2009

What do a gator, a U.S. hockey legend, fire eaters, VoIP and unified communications have in common? They all made appearances at VoiceCon Orlando 2009 this week. For four days, VoiceCon descended on the Gaylord Palms Resort, bringing with it thousands of attendees to learn almost all there is to know about IP telephony, whether it's voice, video, unified communications or one of the many other productivity-boosting applications.



Groups gathered to see industry experts and corporate leaders share their visions, test drive the latest and greatest gear on the show floor and enjoy a few days in the city that Mickey Mouse built.



Here are some things you may have missed if you weren't in the right place at the right time during VoiceCon Orlando 2009.

No, Nortel didn't emerge from its bankruptcy filing just yet, but the Canadian telecom veteran did leverage a tried and true miracle to draw attendees to its booth.





U.S. Olympic hockey legend Mike Eruzione stopped by the Nortel booth on Tuesday. Eruzione didn't talk telecom. Instead, he wowed attendees with the story of his historic goal against the Soviet Union that helped the United States hockey team secure the gold medal against Finland in the 1980 Olympics. Eruzione, who was captain of the 1980 U.S.A. Olympic Hockey Team, is legendary for his role in what has since become known as the "miracle on ice," which has spawned two movies showcasing his now historic shot, and for his role in what ESPN viewers have rated the greatest sports highlight of all time.

It was less than 10 short years ago when Cisco Systems broke into the VoIP market for the first time. Now, Cisco is the established market leader. And just this month, Cisco planted its flag in the blade server market with its Unified Computing System (UCS). So these Cisco-labeled water coolers led us to only one conclusion: Cisco wants to claim its share of the bottled water market.

If history is any indication, Poland Spring had better watch its back.

At VoiceCon Orlando, Polycom and Microsoft unveiled plans to transfer sales of Microsoft's RoundTable solution to Polycom. Come April 13, Microsoft will no longer sell or ship RoundTable. Instead, Polycom will rebrand the panoramic audio and video conferencing unit as the Polycom CX5000. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed at the show, but a stroll past the Polycom booth revealed one of the first Polycom-branded RoundTable units. Wait, it's the CX5000 now that's going to take some getting used to.

Cisco Systems CTO Padmasree Warrior presented her take on the future of collaboration, an area in which Cisco will play a significant role. During her keynote on Monday, Warrior outlined these five predictions:

1. Collaboration networks will be to the enterprise what social networks are to consumers today.

2. It won't be about on-demand or on-premise, it will be about the portability of the experience.

3. Innovation will be redefined by operational excellence.

4. Organizations without boundaries will drive the next wave of productivity.



5. Information technology will evolve into information fabric.

During her keynote, Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior, shown here with another Cisco staffer, demonstrated Cisco Health Presence, a solution targeted at the health-care industry. The system connects patients with doctors, eliminating the need for an office visit. It features a stethoscope, cameras and a tool to read vital signs and submits that information to a doctor, who engages the patient over a TelePresence videoconference.

Avaya CEO Kevin Kennedy took the stage, warning attendees that if they don't innovate now, the economy is going to leave them in the dust. He said collaboration is happening now, and users must embrace it to cut costs and reduce complexity.

A packed room of attendees listens intently during the keynote addresses at VoiceCon 2009.

Here, one VoiceCon attendee takes a break at the Motorola booth, which was offering massages to loosen up those muscles for another few laps around the show floor.

Even ship-shaped seafood restaurant Sunset Sam's Fish Camp got into the spirit of VoiceCon.

Here, VoiceCon attendees gather for the Monday night party in the Gaylord Palms' atrium.

And what would a party be without fire eaters? Here, one fire eater shows her craft as awestruck attendees look on.

Back on the show floor, Cisco showed off the latest addition to its TelePresence arsenal, the TelePresence 1300 Series, a one-screen, three-camera solution that takes TelePresence into a new market and price point. The 1300 will cost roughly $85,000, a deep discount compared to the three-screen TelePresence units, which can run about $300,000 or more.

Microsoft Corporate Vice President Of Unified Communications Gurdeep Singh Pall called on VoiceCon attendees to break free from the "shackles of yesterday" by getting rid of their hardware-based VoIP systems in favor of a software-centric system. To illustrate his point, Pall held up this bulky attendant phone system, and then illustrated how the same functions can be performed using Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007.

During his keynote, Microsoft's Pall brought Microsoft OCS users to the stage to discuss what they're doing with software-based VoIP. Here, Pall (left) chats with Gary Grissum, telecom vice president for BNSF Railway (center) and Michael Browne, vice president of IT services for Sprint.

At the Sprint booth, the service provider offered attendees a glimpse into their futures. Using Video over IP, the psychic offered tarot card and palm readings over video.

Speaking of palms, despite the impressive lineup of hot new smartphones at the Sprint booth, the Palm Pre, which is expected to hit the market soon, was noticeably absent.

Dimension Data had the right idea, hosting an espresso bar in its booth to give VoiceCon attendees the late afternoon boost they needed to keep walking the show floor.

Everywhere you turned at VoiceCon was a hot big screen or a video solution. Here, Tandberg showed off 1080p60 technology. Using its video technology solutions, attendees could interact with a woman spinning a roulette wheel in a room across the conference center.

Nortel Networks may want to change its marketing message. While vendors showed off a lot of cool products at VoiceCon, it wasn't enough to quell the humidity and the 80 to 90 degree Central Florida heat.

VoiceCon Operations Director Crystal Lucas gets up close and personal with an alligator brought in from Gatorland.