Network security, wireless communications, and new ways of using technology to improve business processes will be among the hot topics May 1 to May 6 when the nation's largest annual gathering of buyers and sellers of networking technology takes place in Las Vegas.

The 20th annual NetWorld+Interop conference and exhibition, which is being renamed Interop, will feature more than 350 equipment vendors and service providers on the show floor, a host of seminars, discussions, and debates, and a series of keynote speech by industry leaders, including those from AT&T, Cisco Systems, Intel, and Juniper Networks. More than 85 vendors have disclosed plans to introduce new products and services at the show. And the conference program will focus on six of the hottest technology trends today, including network infrastructure and services, wireless, security, performance, VoIP and collaboration, and data management and compliance.

Here's a sampling of some of the announcements that are scheduled to take place at the show:

Cisco Systems plans to introduce a new product that combines radio-frequency identification technology with location devices. Cisco is expanding its line of wireless LAN products, which have the potential of acting as a passport for passive RFID tags and could be used to track active RFID tags without the need for manual readers, says Dave Leonard, VP of engineering at Cisco's wireless networking business unit.

Network-management and security software vendor Enterasys Networks Inc. will exhibit a line of its Secure Networks products, which include intrusion-detection and prevention tools designed to reach across wired and wireless networks, an end-point trust-assessment and control system for large, distributed networks with various mobile users, and its new RoamAbout wireless-switch system.

Extreme Networks Inc. plans to demonstrate how voice, video, and data can be securely deployed on one network, with wired and wireless connectivity, using its newly launched Sentriant Virtualized Security Resource appliance that's designed to protect networks from zero-day attacks at speeds of up to 10 Gbps.

Several major telecom companies will be there as well. MCI, for example, will be announcing enhancements to its current IP networking offering.