Pulver re-acquires VON conference

Feeling the weakening pulse of the trade show circuit back in September of 2001, pulver.com CEO Jeff Pulver sold his Voice on the Net (VON) and SIP conferences to event marketing company Key3Media. However, with voice-over-IP invigorated and the future of Key3Media in doubt, Pulver bought them back this week for an undisclosed amount and promised to shake up the industry once again.

“It’s good to be able to run VON at a time when VoIP is happening again,” Pulver said. “It’s like 1996 all over again, except now the technology actually works.”

The biannual VON conference was started in 1997 with a focus on innovative technologies emerging from the convergence of telecom and the Internet and the regulatory and competitive issues surrounding them. “Pulver.com has always been sort of an unofficial trade association for the VoIP space, except that we don’t charge for membership,” Pulver said. “My recommitment to buy VON back means I will be there for the long run and help do some of the heavy lifting to help raise the entire industry.”

Pulver is quick to point out that he never really left. Pulver continued to be the primary promoter and organizer of the shows even under Key3Media ownership. Pulver said he wanted to save VON from whatever black hole key3Media finds itself in.

Key3Media has been rumored to be heading toward bankruptcy soon. On December 16th, the company stated it failed to pay its semi-annual interest payment on its 11.25% senior subordinated notes due in 2011. The company had a 30-day grace period whereby if it did not make payment, it would constitute an event of default under the company's senior bank revolving credit facility. Key3Media’s other events include VoiceCon and Comdex.

“Getting the show away from [Key3Media] will breath new life into VON,” Pulver said. “But in the 17 months I was with Key3, I think I learned how to take the show to the next level when the economy returns.”

The next level for VON will be mainstream. Pulver thinks he can broaden the mind share of VoIP solutions and VON itself by making VON a place where people interested in VoIP and IP communications at all levels can go to shop.

In related news, Pulver’s Free World Dialup service has grown to 6300 users. The free SIP-based broadband voice service is on pace to reach Pulver’s goal of 10,000 subscribers by the Spring VON conference in March.

Pulver also plans to file a petition with the FCC in the coming weeks for a declaratory ruling ensuring that Internet telephony over broadband remains free of regulation. “A lot of countries look to what the FCC does as a way to justify regulation in their countries, so I am hoping that whatever we do will help set the stage elsewhere,” Pulver said.