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By Tim Young
The TeleManagement Forum has developed something of a reputation for putting on some of the most focused and relevant trade shows in the OSS world. Over the last few years, a spate of trade shows has emerged in response to a perceived need in the industry, host organization schisms, an ever-shifting business climate, and, no doubt, a desire on the part of hosting bodies to get a piece of as many events budgets as possible. While some are driven to go bigger and broader, others choose to opt for tiny and ultra-focused. In the middle of all of that is TMW-Americas, and the show has once again hit its stride.
This year's event had over 1500 attendees, up from last year, and north of over 80 exhibitors. The expo floor was generally bustling from prior to the official floor opening to well into the nightly cocktail hour. Exhibitors expressed a moderately high level of satisfaction with booth traffic, though most had their hands full with prearranged meetings. Especially busy were those vendors that had opted for TMF's optional appointment-setting service, which served as a sort of matchmaker between vendors and potential customers. Apart from the main expo floor, there were a wide range of meeting rooms, hospitality suites, and, perhaps most notably, the Catalyst Showcase expo.
One of the event's most heavily touted and frequently referenced aspects, the Catalyst Showcase was a live demonstration of the Catalyst Program, which is, in the words of the TM Forum itself, “TM Forum's living lab, enabling service providers, systems integrators, and hardware/software vendors to work together to solve common, critical industry challenges.” Some of the specific projects highlighted in the showcase included AVIS, Product and Service Assembly Catalyst, and Single Sign On.
• AVIS, (Accelerating VoIP and IMS-based Services), is sponsored by BSB and CANTV.NET and focuses on how OSS solutions can enhance VoIP business models. The participants in the project-- Lucent, CA-
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"... the event's most heavily touted and frequently referenced aspects, the Catalyst Showcase a live demonstration of the Catalyst Program, which in the words of the TM Forum itself, “TM Forum's living lab, enabling service providers, systems integrators, and hardware/software vendors to work together to solve common, critical industry challenges.”" |
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• From a security standpoint, the Single Sign On (SSO) project, sponsored by Telefonica Moviles España, COOP Program Council and featuring work by Alcatel, Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens, Wipro, Evidian, and Sun, is a project aimed at tackling real-world implications of Sarbanes Oxley compliance and reducing overall financial risk. The goal is to adopt open standards for SSO so that companies can increase security while lowering costs.
• The Product & Service Assembly Catalyst, meanwhile, focuses on dynamic product and service creation that goes on behind the scenes, limiting its impact on customer-facing systems. Costs are reduced. Time to market is reduced. Not a bad deal. The project was sponsored by BT Group, Cable & Wireless, and TeliaSonera, and featured work by ATOS Origin, Axiom Systems, Celona, Huawei, and Oracle Corp.
The other projects were also quite interesting, and the overall mood and climate of the Catalyst showcase was academic rather than as overtly sales-focused and exposure-driven as much of the rest of the Expo. The project booths were manned by personnel from all companies involved in the projects, and there were regular and informative presentations on the topics at hand. The event was half trade show, half science fair, and a nice break from the constant barrage of targeted marketing.
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