INTEROP -- The View from the Floor
Recently I attended INTEROP Las Vegas. Roaming a trade show floor stacked high with servers and switches, routers and security devices. While I was there checking out how various companies were positioned, how they attempted to set themselves apart from the competition across the aisle using the same language to sell a similar offering, I noticed some trends.
Blogs. If you couldn't make it to Las Vegas for the show, reading blogs was the next best thing to being there. From exhibitors to editors to attendees walking the floor, it seemed everyone was posting about what they saw or heard. Pictures of booths were posted, video interviews, or just reactions to what exhibitors were saying (see below). But the blogs did more than simply give non-attendees a glimpse of the show, it also allowed attendees to share their immediate thoughts on what worked, what didn't, and what is worth learning more about long after the booths are packed up and shipped back to their warehouses. In short, blogs were the real-time eyes and the ears of the show.
Green is the new black. From Nortel's booth enticing attendees to "Calculate your Cisco energy tax" to the show organizers proclaiming INTEROP’s aisle carpets were made of 60% recycled materials, "environmentally friendly" was the talk of the day. Granted, when it comes to network equipment, reducing power means reducing costs, so in addition to helping the environment a more energy efficient device can also help the bottom line, but there's no denying that the "energy efficiency" message is here to stay.
Show No Fear. From Nortel's jab at Cisco's energy consumption to Xirrus' "Ditch the Switch" theme and Motorola's attempt to drive home the point that wired networks are prehistoric (that's a dinosaur made out of Cat 5 cable), exhibitors weren't afraid to promote their own offering by drawing explicit, sometimes aggressive, comparisons to their neighbor.
Open…and closed. INTEROP's heritage of promoting and testing interoperability between vendor products was apparent as exhibitors touted their standards-based solutions and ability to painlessly play nicely with others. While playing nice with others is a good thing, one look at the show floor and you couldn't help but notice the focus on protecting and securing the network. From McAfee's "Don't be the next data loss headline" and SonicWall's"Protection at the speed of business," to Blue Coat's "Stop the bad, accelerate the good," you couldn't help but wonder if while you were walking the floor some dastardly force was back in your office infiltrating your network and causing irreparable harm.
As a side note, check out McAfee's The S.P.A.M. Experiment - in the same way Morgan Spurlock lived his life on fast food for 30 days in the 'Super Size Me' documentary, volunteers from ten countries around the world conducted an experiment to live their lives by spam for 30 days. The participants' online diaries tell of their daily experiences and, at the end of 30 days, experts analyzed the spam and provided tips to help viewers keep the spam at bay. Pretty cool use of blogging – and relatable to anyone with an email address - getting McAfee's message across without the corporate spin.
All in all, INTEROP was bustling, with attendance up from last year, and 170 new exhibiting companies – a 25 percent increase. Even if the show floor continues to evolve, it appears that trade events are alive and kicking.
