Presenting The ITEXPO East 2007
Best of Show

What a show! Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO EAST, which took place in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, was by all accounts a successful show. The exhibit hall had a buzz about it, the likes of which I had not seen in quite some time, and the exhibitors who I spoke to were thrilled to be a part of it.

I spoke with Greg Lohrenz, CEO of AITech, (news - alert) a provider of Hosted PBX services, SIP trunking, and PRI replacement, and he was very pleased with the results of the show. “It’s been a great show for us. We’ve been in business for 14 years, and in that time, this is probably the best show that we have attended.”

There were many exhibitors who had similar comments as well, which as you can imagine is very gratifying for the team that organizes the events. Among the details of organizing the event, one of the items that falls under my purview is the selection of Best of Show winners. In the past this has been a wide open affair, with any number of companies qualifying for the honor, but never before have we categorized the winners.

This year we decided to try something new. The editorial team, which is made up of myself, Executive Editor Richard “Zippy” Grigonis, Associate Editor Erik Linask, Executive Technology Editor Tom Keating, and with significant contributions from our President and Editor-in-Chief Rich Tehrani, agreed to come up with a series of categories to aid in determining this year’s Best of Show for ITEXPO East.

The editorial staff visited with the exhibiting companies, listened to what booth representatives had to say, and participated in demos, and took away with them the information that was later disseminated into the winners’ list you have before you now.

The Best of Show awards are presented to companies that showcased impressive products and solutions on the ITEXPO show floor. And in a nod to the fact that there were so many impressive companies at the event, we’ve decided to make the winners two-deep in each category. Thanks again to everyone who came together in Ft. Lauderdale to make this ITEXPO one of the best events in our history. I look forward to seeing you at the next event!