Star power in Beantown

The Fall 2006 VON conference in Boston this week got off to a great start thanks, in part, to what some might consider an unlikely duo: Tommy Holcombe, vice president of operations for Ringgold Telephone in Georgia, and Trevor Bonstettor, CEO of West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative.

Never heard of VON? That's the impression I have formed over the last month or so--that representatives from rural providers weren't very familiar with the event--and vice versa.

VON, the Voice on the Net event, is produced by Jeff Pulver, chairman and founder of pulver.com and iconic figure for the new-age, disruptive success of voice over IP. His audience at one time consisted of young, hip software gurus hell-bent on bringing down the telecom giants--and by association, you--with Internet-based technology for voice services, collaboration software and other 21st century applications. It certainly did not consist of many folks from rural telephone companies.

However, VON has matured like much of the disruptive technology it has so successfully promoted. And based on the interest in the words of the two guys mentioned above, who spoke at an IPTV seminar on Monday, perhaps it’s time the two got to know each other better.

It's not as if the young hipsters attending VON don't appreciate the good work of progressive technologists---no matter how mature or seemingly unhip. I always found it encouraging and a good omen for the future when I used to see pony-tailed young software gurus following MCI's elder statesman Henry Sinnreich around like he was the Dalai Lama. Of course, that says as much about Henry's ability to stay young and forward-looking as one of the leading experts and promoters of SIP technology as it did about his following, but I was reminded of that sort of respectful sense of awe when Holcombe and Bonstettor finished their talk and a crowd gathered around to ask questions and exchange business cards.

It was as if people suddenly realized something the folks at Telephony have known for some time: The rural market is not a separate entity. It is, as President George Bush might say, a "central front" in the war on telecom attrition. Rural telcos have fought the early battles of IPTV and people want to learn from them and get to know them better.

But then again, you should be wary when dealing with the city folk. Their intentions aren't always pure.

E-mail me at tmcelligott@telephonyonline.com.