ININ Wrapup/Dead Circuits Debut!

Following Monday, the remainder of ININ's Partner Conference was mostly breakouts, a few of which catered to analysts/consultants, but the majority were more hands-on technical or sales sessions for partners. Quite a few were about selling ININ against specific competitors, and I like how they're addressing the reality of a quiet up-and-comer competing against - often successfully - the majors.

I took in a handful of these, and was impressed with how friendly and accessible everyone was, and it was a great way to get to know each other. They're trying hard to get more on our radar, and we need to understand their business better, and I'd say everyone will go home happy. They spent a lot of time on IPA - covered in my earlier post - and while it's too early to know how the market will take to it, they were upfront, addressing both the potential upside, as well as the realities of offering a new type of expertise to help customers become more efficient by working with ININ.

Those are my key takeaways for now, and if ININ isn't on your map for 2010, you need a better map. I'll leave you with a few photos...


One of yesterday's breakouts - Allan Sulkin giving his state of the union update on enterprise telephony.



This morning's analyst breakfast with Don Brown - a bit on the early side, but very engaging.




And now the fun stuff - the Partner Awards Dinner followed by the Battle of the Bands



A few Rock Band stations to get people into the mood. Go Blair!



Making our debut, sans rehearsal, The Dead Circuits - our singer, Pierre Deguire, myself on guitar, and not pictured, ININ's Chris Majer on drums, and ringer Chris Santillo on bass. We didn't win, but we sure had fun, despite no warning about our instruments being tuned down a half step and not being able to hear ourselves. The 5 minutes of rock star fame was worth it, and we'll do it again for sure - but I'll keep my day job. Photo courtesy of Alice Deer - thanks!



The night was young for some of us, and we made our way to the Slippery Noodle, a local blues bar. The band was very friendly, and a few of us joined them at various times on some tunes. Here's Pierre workin' his harp...