VoiceCon Adds Unified Communications to IP Telephony Agenda at VoiceCon Fall 2006

Move to San Francisco's Moscone Center Reflects Growing Demand for Education and Exhibits Focusing on Enterprise IP Telephony and Converged Communications

PRNewswire-FirstCall
SAN FRANCISCO
Jul 26, 2006

VoiceCon®, produced by CMP Technology, will once again focus on the key issues that are shaping the future of enterprise communications systems and IP Telephony at VoiceCon Fall 2006, taking place August 21-24 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Moving higher on the agenda is Unified Communications (UC), which will unify messaging, email, presence, video and collaboration tools and systems, and provide richer capabilities than ever before. At VoiceCon Fall ( www.voiceconfall.com ), an array of speakers-consultants, analysts, vendors and enterprise customers-will debate and analyze the progress UC has made to date, and what's coming in the future.

"As momentum grows for the Unified Communications concept, there is also a growing recognition of the difficult hurdles that must be overcome," said Fred Knight, VoiceCon General Manager. "With product and service offerings coming to market, we're convening a special 'conference-within-a-conference' on Unified Communications at VoiceCon Fall 2006 to thoroughly explore the subject and what it means to the industry."

Over two days -- Monday, August 21, and Tuesday, August 22 -- a series of sessions and discussion forums will focus on the migration from traditional technologies to IP-based Unified Communications, helping enterprise executives decide why, when and how to invest in this new technology. The speakers will include leading consultants and analysts specializing in UC, in addition to enterprise executives who have been working with the technologies and vendors. The topics to be discussed include:

  -- Enterprise Executive Forum:  A panel of customers will describe their
     expectations for Unified Communications, and discuss their experiences
     in evaluating and rolling out the core concepts and technologies that
     are the foundation of their longer-term plans.

  -- Executive Summit:  What Is Next-Gen Unified Communications and Why Does
     It Matter?:  This session will introduce the basic concepts of UC, and
     representatives from the leading vendors will discuss their respective
     approaches.  The discussion will be led by analysts and consultants who
     are in the forefront UC planning and implementation who will discuss
     what's real about UC today, what will soon be available and from whom,
     and what capabilities lie farther down the road.

  -- Migrating to Unified Communications:  Getting There from Here:  This
     session will describe the most likely paths to unified communications,
     with case study and building block examples.  The speakers will present
     options for upgrading and integrating PBX, voice messaging,
     conferencing, user clients and devices, including insight into where
     and when to invest.

  -- Unified Communications Market Structure:  A leading market analyst and
     a consultant will discuss the present status of UC, the major players,
     and future scenarios for the market.

  -- Success Factors for Unified Communications:  Speakers will present
     their key expectations and "must have" factors for Unified
     Communications to succeed, from both the customer and supplier
     perspective, in addition to highlighting the barriers to adoption and
     the go-to-market factors that must be addressed.

The sponsors of the Next-Gen Unified Communications program at VoiceCon Fall (as of July 25) include Alcatel, Avaya, Microsoft and Siemens.

VoiceCon is also proud to continue its status as the only venue to feature all of the leading vendors and suppliers in enterprise IP Telephony and converged communications, providing attendees with an unmatched opportunity to see and experience a wide range of IP Telephony solutions. Among the companies exhibiting at VoiceCon Fall 2006 include: 3Com, Aastra Intecom, Adomo, AT&T, Avaya, Cisco, Citrix, Ericsson, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks, IBM, Inter-Tel, Microsoft, Motorola, NEC Unified Solutions, Nortel, SecureLogix, ShoreTel Siemens, Sprint and Toshiba.

About VoiceCon®

VoiceCon®, now in its 16th year, is the leading conference and exhibition for enterprise voice, IP Telephony and convergence in North America. VoiceCon® brings decision makers together with the industry's pioneering end users, vendors, and consultants to focus on the issues central to enterprise voice networks and the migration to IP telephony and convergence. As the momentum toward IP telephony and convergence has grown, VoiceCon has expanded to include two yearly shows: VoiceCon Fall 2006, taking place August 21-24 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, and VoiceCon Spring 2007, taking place March 5-8 in Orlando. The VoiceCon Implementation Tour, which was launched in summer 2004, took place in New York on Oct. 26 and Chicago on Nov. 1. VoiceCon is also supported by a weekly email newsletter that is circulated to approximately 28,000 subscribers -- VoiceCon eNews ( www.voicecon.com/enews/ ); VoIP Loop ( www.voiploop.com ), a news, information and opinion site that features thought leaders in VoIP and enterprise IP Telephony and convergence; and the VoiceCon Webinar Series. For more information, visit www.voicecon.com .

About CMP Technology ( www.cmp.com )

CMP Technology is a marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands, CMP has earned the confidence of more technology professionals than any other media company. As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in ways that yield superior return on investment. CMP Technology is a subsidiary of United Business Media ( http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/ ), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion.

SOURCE: CMP Technology

CONTACT: Ben Stricker, PR Director, of CMP Technology, +1-415-905-2464,
or bstricker@cmp.com

Web site: http://www.voicecon.com/
http://www.cmp.com/