Held at the Los Angeles Convention Center here in sunny California, ITEXPO West, brought to you by the Technology Marketing Corporation of Norwalk, Connecticut, is one of the IP communications industry’s longest-running expo/conferences. TMC
continues to flourish in an era that has seen the demise of its competitors.

Even so, all is not sweetness and light for the high-tech expo/conference business. Major economic pressures continue to burden both exhibitors and attendees, which makes ITEXPO’s success all the more remarkable.

Perhaps it’s our energetic exhibit hall pulsating with solutions for enterprises, SMBs, government agencies, non-profits, resellers, developers, carriers and service providers.

Or perhaps it’s the quality of our attendees, a gathering of the world’s buyers, sellers, resellers, investors and manufacturers, who enthusiastically forge new relationships and close deals.

Whatever the source of its success, ITEXPO West — and its sister show ITEXPO East — continue serve as a great watering hole on the vast savanna that is today’s telecom marketplace.

This year, expect a torrent of press announcements, online articles by TMCs editorial staff and blogging by a full spectrum of people, both experts and non-experts, spewing forth news and opinion all over the blogosphere. (At least you can say that we’re very accommodating to everybody!)

I’ve been reporting on telecom since 1994, and I must admit that the technology now appearing is finally giving full credence to that old shopworn term, “convergence”. Hardware technologies are converging, differing applications are being “glued together” into useful unified communications suites and mash-ups, rich feature sets previously available only to major corporations can now be enjoyed by SMBs and even projected to run on mobile devices.

The world is changing rapidly, and organizations worldwide must invest in this technology and use it religiously if they hope to remain viable. That’s why thousands of people convene each year on ITEXPO West at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Hope to see you there too.

Richard Grigonis is Executive Editor of TMC's IP Communications Group.