Groups Join Up to Launch Las Vegas IP Event
Pulver, TIA and CMP pick November dates well-known to techies
By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 3/14/2005
CMP Media, pulver.com and the Telecommunications Industry Assn. have banded together to produce an Internet Protocol event in Las Vegas — during the same week occupied in years past by COMDEX.
The new technology tradeshow, called IP-4-IT, is slated to draw 3,000 attendees and 125 exhibitors to the Rio Hotel & Convention Center Nov. 14–16. CMP will contribute support from its technology magazines, while pulver, a producer of Voice-over-IP conferences, will lend its industry knowledge. The TIA, a co-producer of SUPERCOMM, will contribute its association membership.
"The reception by the vendor community has been phenomenal," said Pulver COO Scott Kargman. "It's a win-win-win. We're excited about it."
The idea arose out of discussions between the TIA and pulver, which last year began organizing a pavilion and conference around the SIP standard at SUPERCOMM. Plans solidified when CMP agreed to come on board.
According to Kargman, pulver will take over management responsibility for the event, CMP will handle conference content and marketing, and TIA and pulver will jointly handle sales. Kargman added that he and pulver founder Jeff Pulver came up with IP-4-IT as a working show name. Although they received some initial "pushback" from CMP Media, the name was well-received in market research.
TIA President Matt Flanigan said IP-4-IT won't duplicate SUPERCOMM, set for June 6–9 at Chicago's McCormick Place, or GLOBALCOMM, the horizontal telecom show the TIA will launch once it ends its 16-year affiliation with the U.S. Telecom Assn., a co-owner of the SUPERCOMM name.
Neither will it overlap with pulver's events, which are intended as VoIP industry gatherings, Kargman said. Pulver, a player in the VOIP event market for nearly a decade, currently produces six events, including the SIP conference. Spring VON was held March 7–10 at the San Jose (Calif.) McEnery Convention Center, Fall VON is scheduled for Sept. 19–22 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Voice on the Net Canada is set for April 19–21 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and VON Europe is slated for Stockholm, Sweden, May 23–26. Pulver is also launching VON Australia Aug. 15–17.
Those involved deny that the launch of IP-4-IT was purposely timed to fill COMDEX's traditional November dates, when thousands of tech-industry buyers and exhibitors were used to journeying to Las Vegas. "We did not base our decision on that at all," said Kargman. "The only way it came into play at all is we know IT people like to go to Vegas in November."
"This is probably the best possible timeframe for all of us," added Gene Sanders, an NAB veteran who was recently promoted to TIA vice president of tradeshows.
MediaLive Intl. last year canceled the 25-year-old COMDEX due to lack of vendor interest. Although the company has released its 2005, 2006 and 2007 dates at the Las Vegas Convention Center, organizers several months ago maintained that COMDEX would be back in one form or another this year. MediaLive did not respond to Tradeshow Week inquiries about the show's status, but the company Web site still lists the show as being held in Las Vegas Nov. 13–17.
Kargman said IP-4-IT will be fine either way. "If it goes on, it won't hurt us. Maybe we'll get some overflow," he said.
