Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Metaswitch Forum 2010 - Day 1 Photos

Off to a great start here in Orlando. No WiFi in the conference area, though, so my day was not very productive Internet-wise, and I'm way behind on things like blogging and tweeting. Between meetings and sessions today, there really hasn't been any quiet time to write, so I'm just going to share some photos for now.

Am definitely hearing some strong messaging here about where Metaswitch is going and the strong foundation they're building on now. In short, the next decade for Metaswitch will be about globalization and maximizing the value they can deliver as a software company. This is not the same Metaswitch from a few years back, and their evolution path is as forward-thinking as anybody else's out there. They've grown a lot in 10 years, and there haven't been many steps backwards along the way. The management is very practical, and all their moves seem well thought out, and that's a good model for long term success. Below are a few examples to support that.




Bright and early before everyone filed in. They had a record turnout - over 750 attendees!


Steve Gleave - he's a great MC, and did a nice job highlighting all the decades since the invention of the telephone. Some pretty slick production values here, but they pulled it off really well.







Dr. Robert Ballard - special guest keynoter. He's the one who discovered the Titanic among many other famous sunken ships. Great choice for the event, and did a nice job tying the themes around the process of making scientific discoveries and how innovation often comes from very unlikely places. He also had some strong messages about education and the role that communications technologies can play to engage young minds in ways that we couldn't do in the past. I wish my kids had seen this!



Focusing on the technology - telepresence and fiber in particular - this was a live demo where Dr. Ballard spoke in real time with his explorer ship Nautilus in Turkey and what they were finding deep in the ocean. Felt like being on reality TV at times, but there's some real science going on here.



Afternoon panel session about applications



Party time at Universal City Walk - Kevin DeNuccio and Rich Tehrani


Karaoke time - with ADTRAN's Kevin "Supah-stition" Morgan - he rocked the house on this Stevie Wonder staple. Great band too!

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