MetaSwitch Forum Reports Record Attendance

The fifth annual Conference and Expo attracts more than 500 telecom industry professionals to the increasingly popular educational and networking event

 

New Orleans, La., April 24, 2008. MetaSwitch today wrapped up its fifth annual customer event, the MetaSwitch Forum V, in the heart of New Orleans, La. This was the largest forum in MetaSwitch history, with well over 500 attendees, and the three-day event was filled with a wide variety of educational sessions, a lively partner expo and countless networking opportunities.

MetaSwitch Forum V provided attendees with the opportunity to explore new technologies and applications from MetaSwitch; meet key staff, partners and consulting engineers; and network with fellow customers to exchange ideas and strategies for today's business challenges. More than 25 hours of educational sessions covered topics such as Web 2.0, network management, IPTV, the evolution of voicemail and the role of session border controllers (SBCs). A series of training sessions hosted by the MetaSwitch engineering team rounded out the educational program.

Keynote speakers at the event included: Joe Weinman, strategic solutions vice president, AT&T; Dave Axam, director of transformation, BT Design; Don Valentine, founder, Sequoia Capital; and long-time New Orleans resident and spokesperson, Archie Manning, NFL MVP and father of Superbowl winners Peyton and Eli Manning.

This year's "State of the Industry" panel discussion was moderated by Gary Kim, editor-in-chief of IP Business News, and featured keynote speakers Dave Axam and Joe Weinman. Completing the panel were Joe McGarvey, senior analyst, Current Analysis, and Carol Wilson, editor-in-chief, Telephony.

"This marks my third year attending the MetaSwitch Forum, and I continue to be impressed with the variety and depth of presentations, panels and educational sessions MetaSwitch produces at these events," said Gary Kim, editor-in-chief, IP Business News. "Providing a venue for attendees to network, discuss strategies and share successes demonstrates that MetaSwitch clearly understands and appreciates its customers and partners."

Sponsors of the MetaSwitch Forum V included Aastra Telecom, Cisco, ADTRAN, Occam Networks, Polycom, Acme Packet, Allied Telesis, Auspice Corporation, Calix, Ditech Networks, i3 Networks, JacobsRimell, Linksys and Pannaway.

At this year's MetaSwitch User Group meeting held at the Forum, Jon Deaver, project manager from Newroads Telecom, was elected as the new Board Chairman and John Springer, manager of information technology for Inland Telephone Company, was named Vice Chair. "I continue to be impressed with the level of commitment and support we receive from MetaSwitch," said Deaver. "I am pleased to take on this new role within the user community and I look forward to working with the members on the exciting initiatives announced during the past few days."

About MetaSwitch

MetaSwitch is an industry-leading vendor of switching and applications solutions for both packet and circuit-switched networks. Its MetaSphere service delivery platform and applications suite enables a broad set of hosted IP communications services, while its core session control and media/signaling gateway products support a full range of Class 4/5 softswitch capabilities. Customers include many of the world's leading operators of wireline, wireless and cable networks, with deployments that scale to millions of subscribers. For more information, please visit www.metaswitch.com.