Photo Credit: Telecommunications Industry Association

As I fly back from TIA 2012 I try and digest some of the messages I heard in keynotes, sessions, and from people on the floor.

It strikes me that despite all the smart people in the proverbial room, none of them really seemed to know what was going to happen next. There was the usual rear-view analysis – every talk started off with a slide or two about the staggering growth we’ve seen in the past 2, 5, 10 years. Those led to extrapolations 2, 5, 10 years out which left most of us shaking our heads in bewilderment at what another 5000% growth would mean to our piece of the network.

What was clear is that it’s not in our hands anymore. Planned and structured network expansion and upgrades are a distant memory. Today it’s more akin to clinging to the side of a train, one that’s picking up speed. As this internet of “things” spreads like an algae bloom in a summer pond, those of us responsible for enabling all of these connected things in the hundreds of ways no one has thought of yet, have one hell of a ride in front of us.

From our side of the pond I expect to see increased needs for NAT traversal connectivity assurance, as VoIP and video telephony applications grow in the connected world of things. There are an awful lot of cameras and devices part of the connected home story we heard much of this week, and even with the promise of IPv6 the reality is that we’ve got a long migration to a NAT free world in front of us.

Did you make it to TIA this year? Do you have any takeaways you’d like to share?

M