• Tekelec, who also had a strong presence at the show, made an announcement that they have teamed with HP and BEA to accelerate deployment of IMS services. The HP-Tekelec Open IMS solution has been in place for some time, and the inclusion of BEA WebLogic SIP Server is a strong move for all companies involved.

Ultimately, NXTcomm 2007 was a strong event with a good sense of its pedigree as a major industry function. Perhaps NXTcomm was not the best attended show in the history of the USTA/TIA partnership, but it had elements of excitement and forward-looking optimism. In some ways, in the opinion of the author, the telecom industry feels that some of its bubble-days glory is reemerging, and perhaps that has left the industry sated, yet somewhat cautious. Also, some of the hype was sucked away by what we've been told was a very successful cable event in Orlando (the SCTE show, which took place the same week as NXTcomm).

And what of that shift? The premiere telco event in North America being passed over by some firms in favor of a cable show? I think that it can only be extended to imply that companies know where the growth may occur and where the less-tapped resources reside. Telco alliances are often old and well-entrenched. Perhaps companies would rather spend their dollars where there's more potential for new business. There is, however, a pendulum effect that tends to moderate hype. Maybe it's cable today, but it could just as likely be back to telcos tomorrow. Not that it ever really left! Hype is a fickle beast, and it tends to favor perceived, not actual, reality.