A review of VON Canada 2005 by Peter Kuciak, Director, Professional Services, Ubiquity Software Corporation.

This is a second year in a row for Jeff Pulver to run VON Canada.  The show was quite a bit smaller in comparison to other Pulver events, but the sessions, industry perspectives, side networking opportunities and of course the famous Pulver Conference Party was well worth the trip.

It is clear that VoIP has arrived.  Most providers - old and new - have embraced it and have shared the experience this week.  It is also clear that the main topic of discussion by providers was: “where are the VoIP applications that I can deploy today”.  The vendors on the other hand were discussing their proposed killer apps.  The secondary thread that was also the focus was "how to deploy applications in a scalable and secure manner".  The days of trials and pilots are being replaced by deployments and revenues.  And that is 'a good thing' for all in this industry.

One important note that also came from most providers is the need to differentiate their services.  Deployment of “me too” apps makes little sense so the need for an open, standards based platform to build their “secret sauce” services is clearly required by everyone.  Only then each provider is able to innovate, differentiate and capture new customers by constantly offering new applications in fast deployment timeframes.

IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) embraced by the wireless providers (and closely watched by their wireline counterparts) was another thread from the vendors and speakers.  It is by far the biggest new global initiative in wireless space today.

Overall VON Canada 2005 was a success, and we hope Jeff Pulver will continue his VoIP crusade by including the Canadian community in the future.