Interop NY 2006 wrap-up

As promised, let me share my thoughts on Interop NY. It sucked. There seemed to be some folks there, but not many buyers. The floor always seemed lightly attended. I didn't attend the keynotes or sessions, but I did overhear the show organizers from CMP talking about "light" attendance on some of the tracks.

It gets back to misplaced expectations because I've been in this business for too long. You see I remember when Interop was two separate conferences - Networld (which was a predominately Novell show) and Interop. Then the two shows merged to become Networld+Interop. I remember the outright debauchery, all night parties (in SFO, Vegas, and Atlanta), and the excitement of being in the networking space 10 years ago.

I guess I yearn for the old days when technology was exciting and we were changing the world. Now technology is a big business. Growth rates are maybe 10% for big companies executing well, not the 200-400% we used to see. Now it's about squeezing another point or two of productivity out of the IT stone.

I had also heard that Interop Vegas back in May was a good show. That Interop "was back." If this is back, I'll take the front please.

Being an old networking guy, it was disappointing to see very little networking at Interop. I know it's not that exciting anymore. That a switch is a switch is a switch. I guess innovation has moved elsewhere into the ecosystem and that was clear at Interop. The show is now about VoIP, wireless and security. In the insult to end all insults, Cisco didn't even have a booth. THEY DIDN'T EVEN SHOW. I think they play in VoIP, wireless and security, no? Talk about a marginal event.

On the security front, it seemed all of the vendors were talking about "identity-based" NAC. If there was this much NAC at Interop, I shudder to think about the noise that will permeate the halls of the EMC (I mean RSA) conference next year. And in talking to a number of these vendors, everything sounds the same. So for another year, confusion will be the theme of the major security shows.

Thinking bigger, it'll be interesting to see how the show circuit fares in 2007. If I were a user and plunked down $2000 to attend Interop, I think I'd be disappointed. Very disappointed. If I was a vendor and wrote a $30k check, I'd be beside myself.

The vendor fair model is growing tired again. I feels like 2001-2, and those were dark years for the conference business. I think we are going to be moving back to an education-centric show model, like Black Hat. But CMP doesn't care one way or the other. They own both Interop and Black Hat.