Interop Rolls into NYC Celebrating Technology and Innovation

Technology has been the ever-present caretaker throughout our history. It has been the muse for thought leaders like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Linus Torvalds, Sergey Brin and Tim Berners-Lee. Technology has allowed these Titans to give form to their vision -- the personal computer, smartphones, the Internet and organizing the world's information. These innovative technologies have irrevocably changed how we engage with the world.

This level of innovation continuously inspires a new breed of entrepreneur. You only have to look as far as: Eric Goldstein, Amplify; Dennis Crowley,Foursquare; and Mike and Tom Oristian, LucyPhone to get an understanding of how their innovation has propelled technology.

The reason I have taken the time to focus on the innovation of technology is because of Interop. The conference took place late last week in NYC and I had the opportunity to speak with Lenny Heymann, the General Manager of Interop. This organization, he said is one that truly fosters the innovation of technology.

Interop will be celebrating its 25th birthday next year. The organization has its roots in interoperability. The focus was on the network. We have evolved to cover cloud computing, mobility and virtualization.

As I walked the show floor after my meeting with Heymann, I began to take stock in what Interop has developed. This is not simply a conference, but a mash-up of technology and people. There were dozens of sponsored sessions which were meant to educate and exchange information. The sessions ranged from "Securing the Cloud" to "Unified Communications."

This is a video interview with Larry Heymann taken at last year's Interop in Las Vegas. Even though it's a year old, I simply wanted to point out that even as technology evolves there is one constant. Innovation. Heymann explained that well.