Metaswitch Forum 2012 - Are You In?

Finally getting back into routine after Labor Day, both with project work and some new things you'll be hearing about soon. Been close to home for most of the summer, but industry events are popping up now for the Fall, so I'll be doing my share of travelling soon enough.

Next up is Metaswitch Forum, which is a bit less than a month from now, running from October 1-4. This has long been one of my favorite vendor events, and it gets better every year. The 2012 theme is "who's in ?", and you can read that a couple of ways. I'm in, but only the first two days, as I have to split time that week with the ITExpo - more on that in another post.

So, there's certainly the post-London Olympics vibe of competition, racing and winning, and this oh-so-British company is game to take on all comers - which they've been doing successfully for some time now. Their momentum continues to be strong, and the program for 2012 very much reflects that.

Did you see Bill Clinton's DNC address last night? Wow - pretty tough act for Obama to follow, but it makes me wonder if Steve Gleave didn't write some of his speech. So much of Clinton's messaging aligns with the Metaswitch theme this year, and being a Democrat, I couldn't help but think this way. We're all in this together, coming to the Forum to learn from each other, discover what the technologies can actually deliver, and how the company's roadmap is built around what their customers actually need.

Bill Clinton talked about cooperation, inclusion, collaborating, and shared values that make for a stronger nation and more equitable society. As a company, a lot of that actually comes mind with Metaswitch, but these ideas also very much apply to what they're empowering their customers to do. I think we're going to see a lot of this reflected in their value proposition and how they make their customers more competitive. Am not expecting a keynote from Barack Obama, but when it comes to sharing a vision, the leadership at Metaswitch does it as well as anybody. I'm in.