By Gail Norris, COMPTEL

Valuable networking opportunities at the sold-out EXPO, top-notch speakers and half-day workshops on hot topics for the communications industry are expected to draw more than 2,000 attendees to the COMPTEL PLUS  Spring 2012 Convention & EXPO, which is happening April 15-18 in San Francisco.

“If the early response by our pre-registered attendees and exhibitors are any indication, COMPTEL PLUS is going to be the one event that you can’t miss this Spring,” said Jerry James, COMPTEL’s CEO. “We’ve put together a great line-up of expert speakers for our educational agenda and have attracted more than a dozen new exhibitors to the EXPO, giving our attendees even greater opportunity to learn, network and develop worthwhile relationships with customers and partners.”

New this year will be a mobile app that is designed to help our attendees use their smartphones or tablets to navigate the trade show floor, educational sessions, networking events and one-on-one meetings in San Francisco. The mobile app will be available by mid-March and can be accessed via the COMPTEL PLUS website (www.comptelplus.org).

Before the show, pre-registered attendees also will be able to take advantage of the COMPTEL PLUS Business PLANner, an online meeting planning tool that enables users to identify prospective and current customers and partners and request one-on-one meetings during the show. These meetings can take place in the COMPTEL PLUS Deal Center and at exhibitors’ booths during show hours. The COMPTEL PLUS Business PLANner will open for use by pre-registered attendees on March 1.

The Trade Show

The COMPTEL PLUS EXPO will kick off on Sunday, April 15 with a grand opening reception. In a fun atmosphere featuring music, food and drink, attendees will be able to meet almost 100 companies that provide critical products and services to the communications industry, including 14 companies that are new to exhibiting at COMPTEL PLUS – AireSpring, Alpheus Communications, Alteryx, Connectiv Solutions, Ditech Networks, Ekinops, Genuent, ION, LogiSense, MapleWorks, Microsoft, New Hampshire Optical Systems, Progress Software and SmartOptics.   The EXPO will be open April 16-17, as well, concluding with a grand prize drawing at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, during which attendees have the chance to win a $1,500 Amex gift card or one of two Apple iPad tablets with Wi-Fi.

Opening Session

On Monday, April 16, the convention will begin with an opening session featuring innovation guru and author Phil McKinney, who is the recently retired vice president and CTO for Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) $40 billion Personal Systems Group.  McKinney says that generating and executing great ideas is the key to staying ahead in a rapidly changing world. But while it seems so basic, it is hard to actually get right. The problem, according to McKinney, is that people have been taught to ask the wrong questions about their businesses.

Based on his newly released book, “Beyond The Obvious: Killer Questions That Spark Game-Changing Innovation,” McKinney’s keynote will share the unique and proven approach to asking the right questions—the ones all companies must ask to survive. His speech will present real-world examples that will help COMPTEL PLUS attendees change the way they operate, innovate and create.

Educational Agenda

Following the keynote will be two days worth of educational programming, featuring tracks on business, regulatory and technology trends.  Hot topics to be discussed include 4G, cloud computing, cable wholesale offerings, cybersecurity, data privacy and security, Ethernet technologies, IP interconnection, intercarrier compensation and universal service reform, sales strategies and wireless backhaul.

The COMPTEL PLUS agenda also includes three half-day workshops:

• TM Forum Frameworx Workshop – On Sunday,  April 15, at 12:30 p.m., the TM Forum will present an interactive, half-day workshop on its Frameworx suite of standards that address transforming and rationalizing back office systems to support an integrated, agile architecture that reduces the cost of integration and operation.
• Microsoft’s Hosted Unified Communications: A Reference Architecture - This half-day program scheduled for Tuesday, April 17, will focus on the business value of, and technical enhancements to, the Lync hosted pack reference architecture.
• Edwards Wildman Workshop on Cloud Computing: Exploring the Opportunities and Overcoming the Challenges – Focusing on the legal and regulatory issues associated with cloud computing, this free workshop on Wednesday, April 18, will give participants deep understanding of the key issues and all the tools necessary to move forward with the development of a cloud offering. Among the topics to be addressed are strategic aspects and considerations for telecommunications companies seeking to develop cloud solutions; data privacy and security issues; agreements between cloud providers, hosting companies and customers, including software license arrangements; and merger and acquisition considerations in acquiring cloud assets (including data centers and hosting companies).

For more information or to register for the COMPTEL PLUS Spring 2012 Convention & EXPO, please visit www.comptelplus.org.  For the latest news from the show and our exhibitors, follow us on Twitter @COMPTELPLUS and #COMPTELSpring12.