Packed to the gills

That's the word from Day One of the VOIP Developer Conference in San Francisco, where developers and other pros flocked to pack the meeting halls at the South San Francisco Conference Center.

The conference continues through August 4. IPInferno will post interviews from the scene Wednesday.

The scene there contrasts interestingly with MacWorld, held at the Moscone Center in S.F. in January. That show, while well attended, was a pale shadow of past events. Granted, Apple chose to launch Shuffle there, but surrounding Apple's massive booth, there wasn't a great deal to look at. Music software developers showed up. So did makers of wetsuit-style cases for IPods. But from the fresh product perspective, Apple was the standout innovator.

With respect to the show being packed, however, one must remember that the Moscone has about forty times the floor space -- and that's to say nothing of banquet halls -- than the South San Francisco Conference Center.

However, should the VOIP sector continue its momentum -- and recent analysis from Gartner Group anticipates that the format won't plateau for another 2-5 years, perhaps the show will get enough foot traffic to justify booking the Moscone in the not too distant future.