Back in October, I attended the Supercomm trade show in Chicago.

I presented on a panel with Jeff Thompson, the CEO of Towerstream. Jeff runs a business very similar to Sparkplug: we both are giving businesses a viable alternative to the fixed wired infrastructure…. An alternative not just because it’s wireless, but it’s also based on a completely different business model:

- We install services in days, not weeks

- We can upgrade bandwidth to scale with a business growth immediately (versus the classic problem of having to replace a T1 with a DS3)

I think we were both pleasantly surprised to see our audience pack the room. This serves as a testament to the high level of interest in fixed wireless services.

Jeff and I pointed out that fixed wireless is now going up market – delivering higher capacity solutions and competing directly for the traditional DS3 and OC3 business in all industries, from healthcare to retail.

We were fortunate to have Dan O’Shea, a veteran of telecom media industry, moderating the panel. Dan wrote about Supercomm.

It’s interesting to see such a broad mix of topics at a telecom trade show. To see social media mentioned in the same sentence as optical packet networking, shows how much the business world has changed. This blog is a reflection of just that – I run and market this access business very differently than I have in the past. In fact, Supercomm, with its massive exhibitor booths, felt a little “old school”…. Jeff Thompson and I both reach out to our target audiences in new ways, in addition to the “legacy” trade show.

While I was at Supercomm, I did an interview with Erik Linask, Group Editorial Director at TMC.net, and we discussed some of the issues facing the wireless broadband industry. Please check it out.

So did any new major industry news come out of Supercomm? Not a lot – the ILECs talked about Net Neutrality, but the smaller, scrappier companies like the kind Jeff and I run are focused on giving customers new alternatives to those networks that solve for real-time issues that businesses come across today.

Like many of you, I am looking forward to the holiday season and spending good quality time with my family… which will hopefully include some nice powder days! I look forward to catching up with you again the New Year.