The tower industry gets its turn on the trade show spotlight this week as PCIA’s 2009 Wireless Infrastructure Show is set to kick off at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Hotel in Nashville, Tenn.
The event’s festivities start on Monday, Sept. 21 with the 5th Annual Golf Outing, sponsored by AT&T Towers. The outing takes place at the Hermitage Golf Course in nearby Hickory, Tenn. The event will include transportation to and from the course, a lunch and awards reception following the event.
The show officially kicks off first-thing Tuesday with a DAS Forum Breakfast, sponsored by American Tower and INOC. That will be followed by the opening keynote from Verizon Wireless SVP and CTO Anthony Melone, and sponsored by Message Center Management. With Verizon Wireless in the midst of an aggressive build out of its LTE network using its extensive 700 MHz spectrum holdings, this should be a good venue for getting an up-to-the-minute update on the carrier’s progress.
Following the keynote address will be breakout sessions covering a number of topics, including: Witness Prep Workshop, sponsored by Saul Ewing; The Global Perspective: Wireless Infrastructure Opportunities in Emerging Markets, sponsored by Raymond James; Smart Grids; New Drivers for Inbuilding Wireless, sponsored by ExteNet Systems; Local Zoning Challenges: Reports from the Front Lines, sponsored by Davis Wright Tremaine L.L.P.; Outsourcing to Experts: How to Reap the Benefits, sponsored by Message Center Management; Growing by Shrinking: Femtocell and Picocell Network Deployments; and DAS as a New Entrant Deployment Strategy, sponsored by Network Building & Consulting.
The sessions will then be followed by a keynote speech at noon from Anna Gomez, deputy assistant secretary for communications and information at NTIA. During the day’s lunch break will be another presentation entitled 4G: Wireless Infrastructure Impacts and Implications.
Following lunch, RBC Daniels will be sponsoring its 7th Annual Wireless Investor Conference, which will then be followed by the opening of the exhibit hall. The day’s activities will conclude with an opening reception sponsored by TowerCo.
Day 2
The 2009 Wireless Infrastructure Show will kick off its second official day with the WWLF Breakfast that will be quickly followed by the day’s keynotes from Yung Hahn, president OPA and director of IP strategic initiatives at chip giant Intel Corp. and Johan Bjorklund, VP of managed services at Ericsson.
After the keynotes, attendees will be directed to the exhibit floor where lunch will be served until the early afternoon. Then it’s back to the audience chairs to catch a panel of the tower companies’ CEOs presenting their ideas on the state of the industry. The event, officially titled: The View from the Top – Tower Company CEOs, is sponsored by SiteMaster.
The show then breaks into sessions for the afternoon with a number of topics, including: Federal Siting Issues in a New Administration, sponsored by Patton Boggs; Innovative Strategies for Reducing Network OpEx; Eliminating Backhaul Bottlenecks; ARRA Workshop, sponsored by Venable L.L.P.; State Opportunities and Obstacles, sponsored by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings; Small Tower Forum Workshop, sponsored by Media Capital Advisors; Is There Green in “Green?”: Ecological Infrastructure Initiatives, sponsored by BCI Communications; and Innovations in Distributed Network Architectures, sponsored by ExteNet Systems.
The invitation-only President’s Reception will follow the sessions and lead into the also invitation-only Gala Event.
Wrapping things up
The final day of the show is scheduled to kick off with the PCIA Member’s Breakfast, sponsored by Atlantic Risk Management, and followed by the DAS Technical Committee Meeting. Also running in the morning will be the Tech Committee Meeting; Advocacy Committee Meeting; and the DAS Inbuilding Working Group Committee.
The 2009 Wireless Infrastructure Show will finish off with SWAP – The Carrier’s Perspective and the SWAP Leadership Luncheon and Roundtable.
Overall, a very packed event that should offer something for everyone.
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