At VoiceCon, Grandstream had some new SIP-based gadgets including the video telephony units that VidTel is using and video surveillance gear. As TMC's Erik Linask reports here, "The first products in the new line include one- and four-port video servers/encoders -- its GXV3501 and GXV3504 -- and an IP video camera -- the GXV3601.... All three products leverage Grandstream's experience with H.264 real-time video compression, providing clear video while optimizing bandwidth usage, and SIP-based VoIP technology for providing two-way audio and video streaming to mobile phones and desktop video phones."

But the other hardware surprise for me was Aastra's Clearspan. It's basically an Aastra branded version of Broadsoft on a blade server for enterprise. (One review here). Taqua is also reselling Broadsoft to smaller service providers but under the Broadsoft umbrella.

Meanwhile at CTIA, WiMax gadgets were launched, including the Nokia N810 tablet and the Samsung Mondi.WiMax gadgets WILL be key to WiMax actually taking off - although Nokia called WiMax BetaMax. I guess no one at Nokia knows that professional videographers and studios were using betamax up until the HD upgrade recently.  Anyway, if Sprint, Claerwire and others are going to get the most out of the billions in deployment money, there will need to be gadgets that consumers can use with WiMax (even at 3650 MHz). Why? Because handsets drive mobility - even if you define a handset as a Kindle or a mini-PC or other gadget.