Event planners for the Software 2008 conference, to be held April 29-30 in Las Vegas, have extended the application deadline for companies interested in participating in the event's Innovation Showcase. The Innovation Showcase has emerged as one of the premier venues for startups and established software companies alike to unveil compelling new products and services.Why am I telling this? In the interest of full disclosure, TechWeb, which publishes InformationWeek, owns the Software 2008 event, produced in conjunction with the Sand Hill Group. In case you missed it, InformationWeek's parent company, United Business Media, announced earlier this week that its CMP Technology division was being split into four business units, with TechWeb being one of them. You can read the official announcement on that here.

But I digress. My real point is that Software 2008 and the Innovation Showcase are great places for software companies, industry influencers, IT professionals, and users to come together. Software 2008 is being held alongside the Interop conference, which pulls in 20,000 attendees, so the energy level will be high. I will be there, as will many of my InformationWeek and TechWeb colleagues, covering the news for our Web sites, blogs (including this one), and print magazines.

Software companies can apply on the Innovation Showcase site. There is a selection process -- not everyone gets in. There's also a fee to participate. The new deadline for applying is March 7.