The workshops, classes and sessions provide the information and case studies that tech leaders need to move forward, while the exhibit floor showcases the new products and technologies available to help them accomplish their goals. We highlight a few of those products in this slideshow.

The questions are when, and as with all futures, how likely will it deliver as expected?

WebRTC is still an idea, or at best a draft. It is available for Chrome and Firefox, but far from being a ubiquitous and reliable solution for real time communications. The awareness and momentum of WebRTC is rapidly building, but it is not by any means a done deal. Many UC vendors are evaluating WebRTC, and testing it within their labs. Some solutions are already being billed as WebRTC compliant.

[ Join us at Interop Las Vegas for access to 125+ IT sessions and 300+ exhibiting companies. Register today!]

Unfortunately, many "cures all ills" solutions fail to deliver. The reality is WebRTC faces an uncertain future. Here is a look at some of the bigger threats that could derail it.

The core hardware features of the Z10 include a 4.2-inch display, dual-core 1.5-GHz processor, 8-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC, microSD card support, and a removable battery. Here are five of what I think are the Z10's best features.

1. BlackBerry Hub. BlackBerry Hub is the new messaging center on the Z10 and within the BB10 operating system. Calling it a "hub" was a good choice of words, as the BlackBerry Hub is the core of the Z10's communications powers. Every type of message is funneled into the Hub, which includes email, text messages, instant messaging, social networking and so on. Giving users one place to see absolutely all their messages makes it a powerful and convenient tool. The Hub is also infinitely customizable, and it lets users turn on/off mailboxes at will, as well as separate them for easier viewing.

The deal values Acme Packet at $2.1 billion, but Oracle will be shelling out about $1.7 billion once the value of Acme's cash, short-term investments and other assets are taken into account.

The news sent Acme's share price soaring by 22.4 percent to $29.30, slightly above the agreed purchase price.

Acme is the long-term leader in the market for session border controllers (SBCs), which manage IP traffic at the borders of networks (where carrier networks intersect and where carrier networks connect with enterprise networks). It has 1,900 customers and has its technology deployed at 89 of the world's top 100 communication service providers (CSPs).

That technology will become increasingly important in the mobile world as SBCs play a critical role in the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) architecture that's set to be adopted by many major wireless operators as they enable 4G voice services (otherwise known as Voice over LTE) on their networks.