Metro Connect USA 2013

Connecting C-level executives from the metro and local access markets

372 attendees, 167 companies, 13 sponsors and 12 exhibitors helped make the 13th annual Metro Connect USA the best so far.

Download the post event newsletter
 
CEO keynote panel:

Day 1 began with a keynote that teed up discussion points echoed throughout the conference as the moderator, Fedor Smith (ATLANTIC-ACM) navigated the threats and opportunities apparent in the metro market today. The C-level panel comprising of Kevin Coyne (FIBERLIGHT), Kevin O’Hara (INTERGRA TELECOM), Clint Heiden (SIDERA NETWORKS) and Dan Caruso (ZAYO) covered a vast range of topics.

Dan Caruso said that for him revenue growth will come from ‘dark fibre to the tower’ to service wireless carriers. Clint Heiden placed his bets on the cloud, urging fibre-based delegates not hand the cloud over to data centres: ‘the network is the cloud’. Read more in the newsletter
 
SDN and competition:

Other themes explored throughout the conference on day one included an executive evaluation of SDN (‘elastic pipes’ are seen to have 3 – 5 year adoption timeline), strategic analysis of company valuations and M&A in the marketplace and an executive-level assessment of the network.

Competition was seen across the entire agenda as a threat for the metro market with both cable companies and municipal networks causing some worry for service providers. Karen Schmidt (COMCAST BUSINESS SERVICES)  perhaps added to the fear during the keynote interviews on day 2 when she spoke about how COMCAST BUSINESS SERVICES had built themselves into a $2.4 billion business. 

Capacity Conferences would like to thank everyone involved in Metro Connect USA 2013 and encourages feedback from all participants.

In-depth panel analysis and details are available in the post event newsletter