Latin America Summit Added to VON Conference

Virgo Publishing, a leading B2B information services company, announced today that the 2009 VON Conference & Expo will include a Latin America Summit focusing on advanced IP communications services in the world's fastest-growing telecommunications region.

Produced in conjunction with SmartMark Communications LLC, the VON L.A. Summit will be a unique event bringing North American service providers, enterprise users and vendors together with key decision makers from Latin American telecom operators, solutions vendors and systems integrators, as well as industry analysts covering the region.

Scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 22, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Miami Beach Convention Center in South Beach, Fla., the VON L.A. Summit will be presented as part of the VON Conference & Expo, which covers service provider transformation and the advanced IP communications industries. The VON L.A. Summit is open to all full conference attendees and exhibitors at VON.

Latin America comprises several of the world's fastest growing countries in terms of advanced telecom services. According to the Latin America Telecommunication Industry Report, the region's broadband market grew at a rate of 54 percent over the last five years. Driven by the off-shoring of call centers from Spain as well as a push to use video-conferencing systems rather than travel for corporate meetings, the telecom markets in Latin American countries, particularly Brazil, Mexico and Peru, are expected to continue to show healthy growth in 2009, despite the world economic downturn.

"I'm very excited to include the dynamic Latin American community in VON," said Mike Saxby, group publisher for telecommunications at Virgo Publishing. "There's no other trade show that affords the opportunity to network with key executives from this increasingly critical region."

Panel sessions and a keynote address at the Summit will enable North America-based attendees to:

• Hear Latin American operators explain key trends in the region
• Understand the types of investments currently being made in IP-based infrastructure, both short and long term
• Gather key insights from the leading industry analysts who cover the region
• Network with key decision makers from Latin American operators
• Learn about the IP network strategies of leading service providers in the region
• Benefit from first-hand knowledge of the telecom challenges faced by multinationals operating in the region