If every there was a year to wake up and taste the technology -- 2008 might be it.

Just consider the following trends:

• Access lines are disappearing at record rates, threatening traditional revenues
• Cable companies are not only trying to re-establish their broadband dominance, they are moving heavily into the SMB market.
• The connected home or converged home – take your pick of terminology – is becoming a reality with new challenges and new opportunities to sell in-home technologies
• Wireless data is taking off but applications and content remain a bit uncertain
• WiMAX is now looming as another well-funded broadband alternative, thanks to Sprint, Clearwire and their merry band of backers
• There are global business trends such as the growing interest in telepresence that is driving major bandwidth business

In short, there is almost nothing about the communications sphere that isn’t in flux -- and we haven’t even started talking about regulation yet.

Based on the interviews I’ve already had with NXTcomm exhibitors – and no, I can’t reveal their secrets in advance, I’m not that kind of girl – I know that the solutions to some of the already stated dilemmas are to be found on the show floor.

Every year, I am amazed at what is assembled at NXTcomm (and its predecessor shows). But I have to admit I’m often disappointed with how long it takes for some of this razzle-dazzle to hit the market, even given the usual push-pull of standards, backwards compatibility, integration and legacy resistance.

Service providers tell me this is changing, that they are well aware of their current predicament and interested in exploring new options and opportunities. NXTcomm will be the best of all places to do that, given its breadth of scope. Unlike other telecom trade shows, this one isn’t focused on one set of service providers or technologies.

There has certainly been a change in the traditional NXTcomm programming. There is still the star-studded list of big telecom execs -- AT&T’s Randall Stephenson, Verizon’s Denny Strigl, Sprint’s Dan Hesse (who looks sharp in the company's new commercials, don’t you think?) -- but there are also mid-sized telco execs represented (Cincinnati Bell’s Jack Cassidy), CLECs (XO Communications’ Carl Grivner), Hollywood types (Mark Burnett of ‘Survivor’ fame) and, oh-my-gosh, even a cable guy -- CableLabs’ Richard Green.

The next change in behavior has to come from the service provider segment itself, and that will be the real story of this year’s NXTcomm.

E-mail me at cwilson3@telephonyonline.com.