Living here in Minnesota, I look for every reason to head south for a break from winter’s ice, snow, and cold. Thankfully, this year one of those breaks is coming in the form of the 2016 Enterprise Connect conference. From March 7th through the 10th, thousands of the smartest men and women in the world will descend upon Orlando, Florida for what might just be the most important communications conference of the year.
This time around, some of the brightest bulbs from Arrow Systems Integration will be there to host panel discussions and present breakout sessions on SIP, Google Applications, and perhaps the hottest topic of the year, the Internet of Things (IOT). Additionally, Arrow SI will have a booth on the exhibit floor to educate conference goers on everything from WebRTC to integrating Skype for Business with legacy communications platforms. Simply put, we are doing everything in our power to make this one of the best Enterprise Connects ever.
See Us, Hear Us, Be Amazed
One of the highlights of any good tradeshow/conference is the number and quality of educational sessions. Enterprise Connect is known for attracting industry experts from around the world to expose attendees to both tried and true technology as well as cutting edge ideas that revolutionize how, where, and even why we communicate. This year, Arrow SI will take the stage for three sessions that I am sure you will not want to miss.
Understanding and Leveraging SIP for Your Enterprise
Monday March 7th, 9:00am to 10:45am
The beauty of SIP is that it isn’t simply one thing. It’s a protocol and it’s an architecture. It’s a tool to make telephone calls and it’s a way to convey presence information. It’s used as a point-to-point signaling protocol and it’s the foundation of large multiparty, multimedia, geographically disperse enterprise solutions.
This session will educate you on the core aspects of SIP while teasing you with enough of the protocol to make you dangerous. Whether your job requires you to maintain a legacy PBX or calculate the ROI of a video conferencing system, you will walk away feeling much more comfortable with the most important changes to communications in 30 years.
KEY TOPICS TO BE COVERED:
- Why SIP?
- Terminology
- Protocol basics
- Distributed, centralized, hybrid, and cloud architectures
- SIP endpoints
- SIP trunks
- Call admission control and calculating bandwidth
- Security and Session Border Controllers
- SIP vs. WebRTC
In Search of a Google Strategy for UC?
Wednesday March 9th, 1:30pm to 2:45pm
Google Apps for Work probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind when considering enterprise-grade unified communications and collaboration options, but Google would like to change that. With the addition of Hangouts, Apps for Work has become decidedly more UC-like than it has traditionally been, offering presence, screen sharing, and video conferencing capabilities. Add in Google Voice, which integrates with Hangouts, and placing and receiving calls over the PSTN is possible, too. Partner integrations, such as those with the cloud communications services of RingCentral and Switch Communications, further enhance Apps for Work enterprise potential.
This session will examine Apps for Work’s enterprise-readiness and competitive standing, and give you the foundation you’ll need for considering the Google offering for your needs.
KEY QUESTIONS:
- What capabilities and features does Apps for Work support today and what’s on the roadmap?
- What role do companies such as RingCentral, Switch, and other integration partners play in the Apps for Work ecosystem?
- What are the pros and cons of Apps for Work and how do those compare to competitive offerings, primarily Microsoft Skype for Business?
- How has Google priced Apps for Work and what are the potential cost benefits?
- What enterprises have adopted Apps for Work, and what lessons learned can they share?
Disruptor Panel: Internet of Things and Enterprise Communications: Is Convergence Coming?
Thursday March 10th, 9:00am to 10:00am
The Internet of Things (IoT) has become a hot topic and one that clearly seems related to the broader issues of communications within the enterprise: In many cases, the “Things” will become part of enterprise systems that also provide communications to people and workgroups. But few vendors and even fewer enterprises have articulated a clear view of how IoT and enterprise communications will affect each other.
This session will feature discussion and analysis of IoT’s impact on enterprise communications. You’ll learn how the respective technologies may overlap or converge, and you’ll learn about some real-life examples of how Internet-connected sensors and devices are being applied to change communications as we know it.
KEY QUESTIONS:
- What are some ways IoT is being applied today? And how do such applications impact enterprise communications?
- Does IoT go beyond simply connecting “things” via cellular LTE? How will IoT’s evolution affect the applications and network services we already run today?
- Will IoT traffic require enterprises to change the way enterprises design their network infrastructures to ensure quality of service for real-time applications?
- How will IoT affect collaboration? Will it reduce the need for individuals to communicate directly? And how will enterprise mobility evolve as IoT becomes a more dominant force in the enterprise?
Escape to Orlando
Whether you are like me looking for a winter escape, or live south of the Mason Dixon line and haven’t seen a snowy day in years, you will want to head down to Orlando for Enterprise Connect 2016. Not only will you have the opportunity to be dazzled by Arrow Systems Integration and all the exciting things we are planning for the conference, you will be treated to breaking news from Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Avaya, and nearly every other leader in the communications space.
Hotels are filling up quickly, so if you haven’t already made your travel plans, it’s time to shake the snow off your boots. I guarantee you that this will be one of the don’t-miss-technology events of the year.
Tao, Zen, and Tomorrow 