If you missed ITEXPO Miami in January, I’m sorry to say that it was your loss. It was one of the best events I’ve been to in a long time. Then again, I am a bit biased given I am the conference chairman.

In any case, I welcome you to visit TMCnet to check out a cornucopia of stories and video interviews from the event. (There’s also a sampling below.) And I look forward to seeing you at TMC’s next ITEXPO, which will take place in Anaheim, Calif., Oct. 6 through 8. (For more on that upcoming event, visit: http://itexpo.tmcnet.com/west/.

At the event in January, specialty distributor ABP (News - Alert) spoke with TMCnet about how it is helping resellers more effectively address changing business models and market realities. CTO Henry Castillo spoke on camera with TMCnet about how ABP is doing that via the delivery of solutions from partners like DrayTek that cater to the specific needs of resellers and their end customers.

Meanwhile, ConteXtream Co-founder Sharon Barkai was at ITEXPO Miami offering his perspective on network functions virtualization and software-defined networking and explaining how his company fits into the mix. During an on-camera discussion, he noted that NFV and SDN help bring cloud economics to telco service providers. However, to embrace SDN, he said, telcos need to structure their infrastructure in a new way, with orchestration at one end, using allocate and compute, and putting in place a SDN fabric on the other end. ConteXtream, he said, provides the SDN fabric piece, which allows for network visualization (giving service providers and their systems the ability to understand what network resources are installed and available) and control (which involves the mapping of flows).

SkySwitch at ITEXPO Miami explained that it has put together a full-featured UC platform that its partners can use to quickly and efficiently cater to the needs of businesses, including those in the hospitality space. Eric Hernaez (News - Alert), managing director at the company, said SkySwitch offers hosted white-label services that enable interconnects, resellers, and VARs to transition more easily from selling traditional PBXs to extensive cloud-based UC solutions. It’s a complete solution partners can manage as if they own the switch, Hernaez said, but SkySwitch is in the background taking care of all the details.

Spindle was also at ITEXPO Miami. Company representatives were there talking about its full-featured restaurant and retail commerce portfolio. CEO Bill Clark spoke on camera about how four-year-old Spindle got its start delivering a payment processing platform and how it then expanded its portfolio via the acquisition of Yowza!!, which brought to the table a consumer shopping application. More recently, Spindle added a point of sale platform for merchants, Clark explained, adding that Spindle’s cloud-based approach to PoS enables it to provide a broader set of services and to add features on an ongoing basis more easily.

Systech (News - Alert) Corp. was at ITEXPO Miami talking about its new gateway solution, which can enable users to expedite the delivery of M2M solutions. Robert Lutz, Systech’s director of product management and business development, said the gateway is configured with plug-in modules so users can create different combinations of interface protocols just by plugging in the right modules, sort of like Lego bricks going into the solution.

Teliax was at ITEXPO Miami talking about its turnkey white-label voice solution, which allows integrators and resellers to get to market quickly, painlessly, and with no upfront investment or recurring costs. Kerry Garrison (News - Alert) of Teliax said the company’s IVY retail platform provides integrators and resellers with a fast and easy way to bring voice to their customers, and to do that in a customized way.

Transbeam (News - Alert) was at ITEXPO Miami offering an update on its expansion plans. Jim DaBramo, senior vice president of sales and marketing at the managed services provider, said that involves building a national gigabit network and putting in place NNIs with best-of-breed last mile providers. The end game is to provide multilocation businesses with a single solution that gives them more control and less hassle.