Supercomm is back.

NXTcomm organizers are changing the name of the US telecom industry’s largest annual trade show back to the name it held for nearly two decades.
In addition, Wayne Crawford, who became the show’s executive director early last year, has resigned, and a search for his replacement is underway.

Jointly owned by two trade associations, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the United States Telecom Association (USTelecom), Supercomm began in 1988 and continued until 2006, when disagreements between the two groups led them to part ways. In 2006, TIA produced its own show, called Globalcomm, while USTA produced a show called TelecomNext. A year later, those shows were combined to form NXTComm, which lasted two years.

After so many changes, the return to a familiar name may help remedy confusion in the industry, said Walter McCormick, USTelecom’s chief executive officer. “With Supercomm, Globalcomm TelecomNext and NXTComm, the brand confusion was inhibiting this forum from reaching its full potential,” he said. “Supercomm has great recognition and a loyal following…It’s where people used to go to see the whole world of communications.”

Beyond brand awareness, one clear challenge for the show will be growing its audience following a wave of consolidation among telecom service providers that is likely to continue. This year the show collocated in the same Las Vegas venue with InfoComm, a trade show for the audio/visual technology market, which NXTComm organizers said could help lure more corporate technology buyers into the telecom industry event. But that won’t happen again next year, when Supercomm returns to Chicago.

When asked this week how organizers plan to grow the show’s audience going forward, McCormick said the question was put to the same advisory committee that recommended the new name change.

“Our advisory committee told us the trade show marketplace had a big hole in it,” he said. “There’s a wireless-only show, a cable show, several telephony-oriented shows -- but there’s not a show that’s about business and technology solutions for the integrated communications marketplace.”

When asked about how the newest breed of service providers – the likes of Google, etc. – would be lured to Supercomm, McCormick said, “Google and Yahoo are already at our show. Google is looking to partner in the provisioning of its services. Yahoo has already partnered with many of our member companies…The new partnerships of tomorrow involve our being able to think through consumer and business needs and how they’re best met through technology. That often involves new partnerships. The goal is to build that kind of a forum, a forum that doesn’t currently exist.”

Crawford will be replaced on an interim basis by Jim Forlenza, who was hired last year as NXTComm’s director of public relations and business development. Forlenza will also be considered as a candidate to replace Crawford permanently, McCormick said.

Supercomm will be held in Chicago June 8 – 11, 2009.