By Mark Everett Hall

In a press breakfast this morning Martin Creaner, President and COO of TM Forum, outlined the events and highlights during this week’s Management World Americas conference here in Orlando. But he also touched on the overall economy’s impact on the event itself.

“Nine months ago when we were planning this event in the depths of the recession, we were somewhat pessimistic,” Creaner said. “Would the industry be in a tailspin?”

However, he said, the pessimism was unwarranted as the conference attracted 1,200 attendees, the same as in 2008. And, he added, the seniority level of attendees has gone up considerably.

Creaner also pointed to new projects being driven by TM Forum. High on the list, he said, was cloud computing.

Although noting that “nothing has out-hyped cloud” in the high-tech industry, Creaner said cloud computing provides TM Forum with a unique opportunity to bring enterprise buyers together with service providers to sort out differences between them. He pointed to a new cloud computing project that will be rolled out tomorrow at the conference.

Eric Pulier, Executive Chairman, Service Mesh, speaking at the morning meeting, said there were significant advantages to both cloud computing buyers and suppliers by creating common language definitions and detailing the services enterprise buyers want and assuring that the vendors deliver them. He said vendors will be able to benefit by targeting research development in areas buyers actually want.

Creaner also said this week’s conference will offer attendees special events around cable and defense industries. He said the Forum used its influence to guide development among suppliers and buyers. He said that while the TM Forum is not a standards body, he hoped that the Forum’s work “created momentum behind de facto standards.”