COMPTEL AND THE CHANNEL Partners Conference and Expo, sponsored by PHONE+ magazine, have joined forces for Telecom Week 2007, a premier networking event that showcases both the COMPTEL PLUS Spring 2007 Convention + Expo and the Channel Partners Conference & Expo back to back, in one great location the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. COMPTEL PLUS will run Feb. 27-March 2 and Channel Partners will run March 4-6.

The COMPTEL PLUS and Channel Partners shows are both highly successful, well-attended industry events, and combining our efforts over this week-long period will create a unique networking opportunity, says Margaret Boles, COMPTELs vice president of communications. COMPTEL is delighted to be working with such a talented team at PHONE+ magazine, and we look forward to bringing the industry what is sure to be an invaluable event in Las Vegas next spring.

PHONE+ and COMPTEL have enjoyed a long working relationship and a common goal in serving the next-generation providers of broadband products and services. Telecom Week is a natural result of the synergies that have existed between our organizations and constituencies for years, adds Mike Saxby, group publisher for PHONE+ magazine. By co-locating, we are able to bring together comprehensive business development programming and opportunities, ranging from network buildout strategies and regulation to sales and distribution.

The two shows COMPTEL PLUS Spring 2007 Convention + Expo and Channel Partners Conference & Expo are distinct. The former provides strategies for competitive carriers and the latter provides strategies for carriers alternate distribution channels. In many respects, its simply different aspects of the same business.

The complementary focus goes one better in that the shows share a common format emphasizing networking and one-on-one meetings. These are the shows where deals are done. Attendees come to these shows to meet with their suppliers all at once.

Telecom Week offers an opportunity for companies to meet with their customers, their suppliers and their channels all in one place.

COMPTEL PLUS Adds IPTV Track

The 2007 COMPTEL PLUS Convention includes a new educational track on IPTV. Sponsored by Cisco Systems Inc., the three-hour track will introduce next-generation service providers to this hot opportunity, which is predicted to reach 63 million subscribers by 2010.

The first session, The Next Big Shift Video over IP, reviews the market forces that are driving new applications like video over IP. It explores the immediate future of video and its bandwidth consumption, how next-generation service providers can overcome deployment issues and deliver new products and services.

This is followed by Demand over Supply: IPTV and Bandwidth Management, which will discuss the different platforms that will benefit from IPTV, namely video, voice, gaming, music and data services as well as opportunities and challenges for delivering IPTV to an ever-growing base.

Finally, the session, iTRACK Generation: The New Media Audience, will review how network service providers can capitalize on new media advances (i.e., IPTV, Zune, iPod, SNOCAP), the bandwidth requirements, new delivery platforms and overall developments.

Stay In The Loop

Keep up to date on information about Telecom Week by bookmarking the Web site at www.xchangemag.com/telecomweek. There you will find news and blogs about both events and special Telecom Week programming and promotions.

The Early Bird Gets the Prize

One early bird registrant for the Channel Partners Conference & Expo will win $1,000 cash as well as three nights stay at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. Qualified attendees who register by Feb. 2, will be entered automatically to win the Early Bird prize. For official rules, visit www.channelpartnersconference.com.

Channel Partners Expo Celebrates 10th Anniversary

The Channel Partners Conference & Expo is marking its 10th year in 2007 with a celebration during the opening reception at the spring event. The Channel Partners Conference & Expo is the communications industrys only event devoted exclusively to solutions providers agents, VARs, systems integrators, interconnects, wireless dealers and consultants. The spring event is expected to draw more than 3,000 participants and more than 140 exhibitors.

The show, formerly the AgENt Conference & Expo, debuted in summer 1997. The event got its current name in September 2001 when the convergence of voice and data began to blur the lines between different indirect sales channels. In addition, the line of demarc between the network and the desktop has become fuzzy, further muddying these distinctions between agents, VARs, interconnects, systems integrators and dealers.

Over the past five years, the Channel Partners Conference & Expo has been exploring these issues and serving as a platform for networking between vendors and their sales channels. Last year, the event added a wireless emphasis that has proved to be a growing opportunity for its attendees and exhibitors alike.