Interop (the show) is history
I've been going to Interop since -- gee, 1992 (I think). I've seen it go from a show full of IP network rable-rousers, to a merger with the Novell world (to create Networld+Interop), to a disappearance of the Novell influence (renamed Interop). And last week, I had a chance to go see what it's like today. It was kind of sad....
Not to criticize the show operators - CMP knows how to create a quality set of things happening. I was asked to teach an all-day class on SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), and despite it being on Friday, I had upwards of 20 people listening. There were lots of other quality “sessions,” too.
But the show floor itself was a different story. While being of reasonable size, the nature of the exhibitors really showed the maturation of the networking industry. There were a few big router/switch companies (Cisco, Juniper, Foundry, ...), a couple of big telecoms (Alcatel), one or two misc. box suppliers (Ixia), and virtually everything else seemed to be small, edge businesses, most of which sold some kind of network management or monitoring software. The asian manufacturers were there trying to push in with low-cost devices, but low-cost doesn't matter; channel matters, and the big guys have the channel locked.
So, the IP networking hardware ride -- as far as a general IP networking show -- is over. Interop is only good for the classes, not the show floor now.
Oh, and let me say - I don't like Vegas. It's the pinnacle of all the things this wonderful country does wrong.