4 THE INCOMPAS SHOW I NOVEMBER 1 - 3, 2026 www.bekabusinessmedia.com DAY 1 venue were selected based on direct feedback from the INCOMPAS community. “We’re always looking for ways to improve the event, and many of those enhancements come directly from the feedback we receive from attendees and sponsors,” Pickering added. “In fact, I can’t emphasize enough how important that feedback is. We want to hear what people think about every aspect of the show, from the venue and networking opportunities to the educational content and overall attendee experience. Those insights play a major role in shaping future events.” That feedback is also shaping the show’s future. This week, INCOMPAS will announce that The INCOMPAS Show will be in Tampa for the next three years, which is another decision driven by attendee and sponsor input. “Tampa has consistently been one of our most popular locations, and securing a multi-year commitment there not only brings us back to a city our attendees enjoy, but also gives companies greater predictability for planning travel, budgets and participation well in advance,” Pickering said. Beyond the location, INCOMPAS is continuously refining the show to create more opportunities for networking and business development. “I think this year’s event will be successful for the same reason we’ve continued to grow year after year: We’re bringing together the right people— including a high percentage of top executives and decision makers—to have the right conversations at exactly the right time,” Pickering said. “We’re seeing strong interest from both longtime participants and companies that are new to The INCOMPAS Show, which tells us that the event continues to be a valuable place for organizations looking to build partnerships, explore opportunities, and stay ahead of industry trends. In fact, this year there will be nearly 80 new companies attending the show and more than 200 attendees who are joining us for the first time.” The 2026 INCOMPAS Show also boasts a robust lineup of speakers, reflecting the major forces reshaping communications and digital infrastructure. “My biggest piece of advice is simple: Take full advantage of everything the show has to offer,” Pickering said. “It’s not just sessions; it’s the conversations that happen at planned meetings and in between, the connections made in the exhibit hall and our daily networking events, and the opportunities to engage with peers, partners and potential customers in a single location over three days.” INCOMPAS intentionally creates opportunities for attendees to connect. All registered attendees can attend the receptions, as well as breakfast and lunch. Attendees can also take advantage of the daily Buyers Forum hour to connect with service provider buyers during impromptu speed meetings. And if you’re looking for a central meeting spot, the INCOMPAS Bar and Deal Center—both in the exhibit hall—are ideal places to connect with colleagues, meet new people and continue conversations. “Make sure to spend time on the show floor,” Pickering said. “That’s where you’ll find many of the industry’s leading companies showcasing new offerings, exploring partnerships and having the conversations that drive business forward. At the end of the day, the more you engage, the more value you’ll get from the experience. Whether your goal is learning, networking, deal-making or all three, there are opportunities around every corner at The INCOMPAS Show.” p Essentia, a Charlotte, N.C.-based fiber network design and construction firm, will demonstrate how its eSpeed deployment platform helps funded fiber projects finish on schedule, on budget and ready for audit. The 2026 INCOMPAS Show comes as the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program moves from awards to execution. Regional ISPs and rural telephone cooperatives now face fixed construction milestones, “Build America, Buy America” sourcing rules and state broadband office reporting that can put funding at risk, often with lean internal engineering teams. Leading Essentia’s work with these providers is Carl Meyerhoefer, who recently joined as senior vice president of Broadband Solutions. A fiber engineer turned business development executive, Meyerhoefer has built growth strategies for rural broadband providers and electric cooperatives, worked closely with state broadband offices and helped secure more than $500 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and BEAD funding. On most fiber builds, engineering, permitting and construction live in separate systems. Executives wait on manual reports, problems surface late and reconciling field work against invoices becomes its own project. For providers spending grant or investor dollars, that fragmentation means blind spots, audit risk and costly delays. eSpeed brings it all into one place. Providers, contractors and Essentia’s project teams work from the same real-time data, organized around four things every build depends on: • Dates: Earned value tracking, a Schedule Performance Index and risk registers flag critical path issues before they become delays, and parallel task scheduling shortens timelines. • Documents: Engineering, permits and photo logs sit in one system of record, with permit status mapped by route, segment and span. • Dollars: Field production is matched to invoices and budgets for audit-ready verification, the kind of record funding reimbursement depends on. • Deliverables: Final as-builts and closeout packages are linked to the tasks and invoices behind them. Live GPS photos, drone data capture and field QA/QC give providers production status across every crew. eSpeed connects to the GIS, CAD, ERP and project management tools they already use. Behind the platform, Essentia supplies flexible engineering, construction and operations capacity that scales with each build, so providers can protect speed to revenue without adding permanent headcount for a finite project. Through its eNetworks business, Essentia also builds custom dark fiber and interconnection routes for carriers and data center operators. p Head to Meeting Lounge 300 to meet the Essentia team, or schedule an eSpeed strategy session at essentia-inc.com or by emailing solutions@essentia-inc.com. Essentia’s eSpeed Platform Brings Visibility, Control and Certainty to Funded Fiber Builds (Continued from page 1)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTg4Njc=