It is now a year on since last year’s BroadSoft Connections, and it has been a pretty big year for the world’s leading UCaaS vendor.
Last year’s event was dominated by the news that BroadSoft had been acquired by Cisco. The deal worth around $2 billion was one of the largest and most aggressive strategic moves the industry had ever witnessed. At the time of the initial announcement there was some speculation that such a deal might never be completed with concerns raised over the potential for competition authorities to object. All concerns were allayed when the deal was finalised and confirmed at the start of 2018.
Now, as BroadSoft Connections 2018 begins, it will be fascinating to see how BroadSoft’s strategy and partner community have been impacted by the acquisition.
Connections 2018 will be attended by over 1300 members of BroadSoft’s partner ecosystem, travelling to Miami, from more than 32 countries worldwide. Attendees at the event this year are going to be able to ‘Experience What’s Next’ the theme of this year’s conference. Michael Tessler BroadSoft’s founder, and former CEO, is now the Cloud Calling and BroadSoft Business Leader for Cisco. He blogged that this year’s Connections event will be full of new announcements for their partners and customers. More detailed plans concerning deeper integration between BroadSoft and Cisco’s other business units are also expected.
This year, we will have lots of exciting announcements around our products, and how they will fit into and take advantage of the Cisco portfolio. We will have speakers from both BroadSoft and Cisco executive leadership who will address business strategy and product roadmap updates.
An exclusive selection of speakers will be taking the stage during Connections this year including Jason Dorsey, President of the Center for Generational Kinetics, who will be aiming to separate generational myth from truth in his keynote speech. A selection of Cisco executives will also be speaking including Tessler himself and the VP and General Manager for Cisco Webex Meetings, Javed Khan.
Tessler also pointed out that Connections 2018 will be particularly special as it marks BroadSoft’s 20th anniversary in the industry. The UCaaS market has developed significantly in that time and now BroadSoft are estimated to control around 50% of its entirety, testament to the forethought and initial design of the platform.
The BroadSoft partner community play a huge part in Connections and this year’s event sponsors include Polycom, Grandstream, Ribbon Communications and Yealink. The four main event sponsors are joined by, over 50, further partners who will be participating in the solutions showcase.
UC Today are attending the event in Miami this week to bring you all the latest, so stay tuned for all the news.
