Last year, the staff of Telephony made our first venture into the conference realm and hosted a voice-over-IP conference for service providers the day before Supercomm exhibits opened in Chicago. The event, produced with the help of our conference partner Shorecliff Communications, was a huge success, owing in large part to timing: Last year, VoIP technologies and applications were just coming into their own in the service provider realm, and the members of our service provider audience were hungry for insight about how VoIP could fit into their network and service environments.

As we gear up for our second annual VoIP event, it has become abundantly clear how far VoIP has advanced in the service provider sector in just one year. The prevailing themes of this year's VoIP: Telephony conference are strategies, technology and profits. In just one year, the telecom industry has progressed far beyond the idea of VoIP as a mere possibility in service provider networks--now, VoIP is an expected and virtually required progression of all telecom service provider networks, and the focus is on not only how to make it fit within an evolving network and service environment, but also how to make it make money.

Senior executives from several prominent service providers will be on hand this year to share their stories about VoIP deployment--among them, BellSouth, Broadwing, Level 3, SBC, Cox, Vonage, WilTel, Covad, Alltel and Net2Phone. They'll be joined by representatives from such VoIP technology developers as Tekelec, Broadsoft, Calix and Lucent Technologies, as well as several telecom industry consultants. Those carrier representatives will not only convey insight about their VoIP deployment strategies in various forms to various market sectors, but also talk in detail about their technology challenges and how they are fitting VoIP into ever-evolving network systems.

The themes we will explore in our one-day event include the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) architecture, VoIP's role in the triple-play bundle, the delicate balance between VoIP service prices and feature enhancements, and the network and operational management hurdles facing VoIP. We'll also feature an address from Bill McMurray, president of the National Emergency Number Association, who will explore critical 911 factors surrounding VoIP.

VoIP has quickly advanced from curiosity in the telecom world to a service provider imperative. I invite you to join us as we explore VoIP's carrier challenges in depth at the 2005 VoIP: Telephony conference, to be held June 6 at the Westin Hotel in Chicago. Click here to register.

E-mail me at jmeyers@primediabusiness.com.