What did you think?

When it comes to NXTcomm08, I realize I've been standing in the trees too long to recognize the forest. As official publisher of the NXTcomm08 Daily News, Telephony has been engaged with this event for months now, focusing on covering every news event on site in Las Vegas.

Having made that confession, I will say that I found the show to be livelier than expected, both in terms of conference programming and exhibit floor traffic. There were critics, to be sure, among the vendors — some companies complained about the volume of traffic and others about the quality. But many of the companies with which I spoke were generally happy with both. To some extent, it was a tale of two floors — for some unknown reason, the upper show floor seemed to attract more traffic.

There also were some new themes at NXTcomm08, the primary one being environmental awareness. The three top technology officers who participated in a keynote panel — Pieter Poll, chief technology officer for Qwest; Chris Rice, executive vice president of shared services for AT&T; and Mark Wegleitner, senior vice president of technology for Verizon — talked about their companies' efforts and the need for standards in this area.

In-home networks connecting not only TVs and PCs but also other devices was another hot topic at NXTcomm08, but it was discussed more practically than in previous years. We've been talking about what Cisco Systems now calls the “connected home” for at least a decade, but the day when your refrigerator makes up your grocery list and sends it to your cell phone is actually getting closer, at least according to Wegleitner.

The ultimate, we would agree, is the green connected home, which monitors its own energy usage and turns thermostats down and lights off when they aren't needed — not to mention powers down computers and modems when they aren't in use, connects grandma and the grandkids via video cameras, lets dad see that things are secure when he's at the office, and allows both parents to work from home as much as possible to reduce commuting.

All of this sounds like a better life, but it also sounds like a major commercial opportunity for service providers that are savvy enough to move in this direction.

To bring this full circle, that's what I think NXTcomm08 was ultimately all about: a new world of services and opportunities. But I'm interested in what you think, if you went, so feel free to drop me a line and let me know at carol.wilson@penton.com.