While much of the focus will be on new products, broad themes and networking trends will be discussed in keynotes, which include presentations by executives from IBM's storage systems group and Google Inc. Google also sent a representative to the New York Interop -- a development that caught the attention of many networking experts.

"Google's presence at Interop is interesting," Kerravala said. "Nowadays, all the carriers are becoming IP-based, which means you remove the need to have a service tied to a network, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that Google could become a large provider of enterprise voice in five years or more."

At Interop, Siemens Communications Inc., a division of Siemens AG, will announce the results of a two-year effort to use service-oriented architecture (SOA) standards and Web services interfaces for its communications applications, said Scott Washburn, global portfolio manager at Siemens. The vendor recently announced that its communications SOA is compatible with IBM's WebSphere and Service Delivery Platform and SAP AG's NetWeaver. The company also struck a marketing alliance with Microsoft Inc. in the area of business collaboration systems.

Later this year, Siemens will announce next-generation products that are SOA-based, including its HiPath 8000 high-end IP voice switch, Washburn said.