CeBIT 2002 – A Curtain Raiser

The information technology and communications (ITC) shows worldwide are

benchmarked every year with the success of Comdex. But the US slowdown this year

dampened spirits at Comdex.

But Europe has not been so badly affected by the weak economic scenario and

hence, CeBIT is back again with its 2002 version. The industry will be flagging

CeBIT 2002, world’s number one fair for ITC from 13 to 20 March.

CeBIT will boast a record total of 8,152 exhibiting companies. The number of

foreign exhibitors is also up from the previous year (3,210 as opposed to 3,059)

though the number of local German companies participating this year has gone

down to 4942 as compared to 5034 in 2001.

Exhibitors

from 58 countries



The CeBIT exhibitors originate from 58 countries and will occupy 4,32,011

square metres of display space (2001: 4,31,875 sq mtrs). Germany heads the

exhibitor league table, followed by Taiwan (555 exhibitors in 2002; 527 in

2001), the USA (512; 477) and the United Kingdom (364; 339).

Deutsche Messe AG has reported a sharp rise in the number of exhibitors from

countries where worldwide CeBIT events have taken place in the recent past.

Australia, for example, has extended its presence by an impressive 60 percent

(42 exhibitors as opposed to 26 in 2001).

The number of Turkish exhibitors has increased more than three-fold — from

10 to 35. Finally, 104 exhibitors from the People’s Republic of China have

registered for 104, as compared with a mere 25 in 2001.

The decline in the German participation is largely due to the streamlining of

the range of exhibits in line with the current market situation. Some 130

companies have been affected by these changes.

Indian participation doubles



Indian IT players are bullish on CeBIT which is reflected by the fact that

participation from the country has almost doubled this year to 48 from last year’s

25. This is a very clear indication that Indian companies are now looking at

European market more seriously. Whereas, Pakistan is not there at all as

compared to seven companies last year.

CeBIT

boasts an outstanding line-up of speakers at the opening ceremony. The keynote

speaker at CeBIT 2002 will be Steve Ballmer, President and CEO, Microsoft

Corporation. The German ICT industry will be represented by Dr Volker Jung,

President of the Berlin-based German association for information technology,

telecommunications and new media (BITKOM). CeBIT will be officially opened by

the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder.

Occupying a total of 27 exhibition halls, CeBIT 2002 will feature three core

display categories, six sub-categories, eight thematic joint presentations, plus

six "Exchanges" focusing on key issues relating to the ICT industry.

In addition, numerous forums and corporate presentations will provide the

necessary theoretical background. At CeBIT 2001, these lectures reached 40,000

registered visitors. CeBIT is therefore not only the world’s biggest trade

fair but also the world’s biggest congress for the ICT industry.

New thematic structure



CeBIT’s new thematic structure is mirrored by a clear and logical layout of
the exhibition grounds. The northern section of the grounds is now devoted to

information technology, the western section to software, and the south-western

section to telecommunications.

In

the past, exhibitors of "Information technology" had been located at

different venues spread around the grounds. As of 2002, they will be grouped

together in the halls at the northern end of the Grounds. "Software,

Internet solutions and services" will be located in a unified chain of

halls on the eastern side of the Grounds.

The other display categories at CeBIT 2002 include "Automatic data

capture, vision systems and voice processing", "IT engineering

solutions", "IT security and card technology" and "Banking

technology and financial services".

The CeBIT job market (Hall 10) will be making its third successive appearance

at CeBIT, Hannover. Subtitled "Jobs in the ICT sector", this special

event will provide a central platform where companies and staffing agencies can

present their current array of employment opportunities. This can be one of the

interesting aspect of the show for Indian visitors to explore this market for

short term and long term job opportunities.

CeBIT 2002 will also feature several group presentations devoted to key

issues affecting the ICT industry. These seminars would focus on areas like

software products and their potential application in e-commerce, software

solutions for government and business community, possibilities for communicating

via electricity supply network and information security.

Platform for business strategies



In overall terms, CeBIT 2002 has a lot to offer to make things more exciting

in this dull business phase. I have been visiting this show for many years and I

have used this as a platform to develop some of my own company’s business

strategies.

In

fact, this year we are participating as an exhibitor and this is a big shift for

a young company like Seacom. We have developed and grown some business

opportunities from CeBIT platform and I personally feel it is a very valuable

opportunity to not only explore new business opportunities but also to learn so

much about the future of one’s own business.

I also use this as a platform to give exposure to some of the growing

managers in my company and it also helps them to change their professional

vision.

I have always advocated that every growth-oriented entrepreneur should invest

in such an exposure at least once a year. Today Indian ventures are facing a

challenge of competition from some other supply markets like China and East

Europe.

In this context, I feel international exposure to events like CeBIT, can

provide new perspectives of customer requirements and build strong value chains

in one’s own business to stay competitive. I am sure CeBIT 2002 will inspire

more IT players to participate in such events in the coming years.

Ajay Aggarwal is the CEO and MD,

Seacom Solutions (India) Ltd.