US Telecom, TIA rejoin trade show forces

USTelecom and the Telecommunications Industry Association announced today they are once again joining forces to co-host a single annual major trade show that they claim will be a new event in all ways, including focus, scope and organization.

Beginning in 2007, the two groups will sponsor NXTcomm, a trade show aimed at the communications, information and entertainment industry, to be held for the first time in Chicago on June 18-21 – the original dates for TIA's Globalcomm event. Next year's TelecomNext show, scheduled for Las Vegas in March, will not be held.

Unlike Supercomm – which, though jointly owned by the two groups, was planned, operated and managed by TIA, NXTcomm will be run by a separate limited liability corporation that will be owned 50-50 by the two associations, but will have its own staff and general manager. Its focus will be much broader, to include content, applications, network convergence and more, and it is expected to have much larger scale than the separate 2006 events.

“This is not just a manufacturer’s showcase for those who were going to buy telephony equipment,” said USTelecom President and CEO Walter McCormick. “It will be focused on what our companies are engaged in – all of our companies – going forward. What we decided to do was that we looked at the two shows and there was a nexis going forward. This is driven by changes in the industry. We are seeing great consolidation not only on our side but on their side. It made sense to pull together a new kind of show, but not the old show.”

The decision to come together again came after pressure on both associations from their members, conceded Matt Flanigan, TIA president.

“There was some pressure from the industry – suppliers, exhibitors, and attendees as well, who didn’t want two shows,” he said, in a telephone interview. “They were telling us that the industry is converging – ‘We are merging and here you guys are splitting apart – can’t you rethink this?’”

TIA was hearing from its members, he said, because they were facing significant extra costs to support two shows. “But USTelecom was hearing from its members as well,” Flanigan said. “They don’t have time to support and attend two shows.”

The respective association chairmen – Westell CEO Van Cullens of TIA and Windstream Chairman Francis (Skip) Frantz of Windstream – took the reins in directing the decision, Flanigan said. The decision was made in late summer and the two associations were given four weeks to pull this new vision together.

“We believe this is the right approach –there are a lot of new ideas out there,” he said.

NXTComm is taking Globalcomm’s dates in Chicago in June for purely business reasons, Flanigan said. On a short time-table, it is difficult to book any other major venue, he said. “This gives us three more months to plan and promote” NXTcomm than holding it in the TelecomNext time slot would allow, he added.

McCormick said USTelecom is already in touch with speakers from its planned TelecomNext event and believes it can draw those same individuals to NXTcomm in Chicago.

If there is any economic damage from canceling the TelecomNext show in March, the new entity will be responsible, Flanigan said, but the groups are negotiating with the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas over possibly holding the larger event there in 2008, he added.

“This is going to be a powerful combination of partners, but a different combination of partners,” McCormick concluded.