CeBit shifts from an IT show to an integration exhibit
By Christoph Hammerschmidt
EE Times
March 12, 2003 (12:55 p.m. EST)
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HANNOVER, Germany — When CeBit opens its gates today (March 12), organizers won't be reporting record attendance as they have in the past. Economic doldrums have hit the world's biggest IT exhibit hard. Perhaps because of the ongoing downturn, hardware and software manufacturers, developers, dealers and service providers are pinning their hopes on an economic upswing — and soon.
The number of exhibitors has dropped for the second year in a row. Only 6,526 exhibitors will show up here this year, 738 less than 2002. According to industry insiders, however, the show remains the most important platform for exchanging ideas and products. With nearly 3.9 million square feet of exhibit area divided into 27 exhibit buildings and with about 600,000 visitors expected, the event is gigantic and serves as an economic barometer.
"CeBit is unique in setting the pace for the information and telecommunications (ITC) industry in terms of innovation and investment,” said Bernhard Rohleder, president of the ITC industry association Bitkom.
The range of exhibits, traditionally oriented more towards the IT needs of corporate customers, is increasingly expanding in the direction of multimedia and consumer electronics. Key themes are mobility and mobile communication in the broadest sense, the convergence of IT and electronics as well as network security.
Focus on trend-setting
Topics considered especially trendy by the organizers are showcased in “Exchange Booths." Choices for that distinction this year were wireless Personal Area Networks (PANs) based on technologies such as Bluetooth, 802.11, GSM, the infrared standard IrDA and 3G mobile communications. The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) also set up its Wi-Fi pavilion by the Wireless PAN/LAN booth.
Another Exchange Booth is devoted to open source. The product categories range from embedded systems through handheld solutions and office applications to open source for standard platforms. One point that emerges here is that the triumphal march of Linux continues. With the exception of PDAs, Linux is now available for practically all computer platforms, even on the Sparc platform.
An original theme for CeBit is computing. Interest this year is concentrated on anything mobile. Thus Intel will be introducing its new Centrino platform today. Intel is seeking to build the foundation for a new generation of energy-saving, low-power mobile computers.
A trend towards server consolidation has been evident over the last few years for larger machines. This has influenced the design of computing center machines: blade servers and devices for installation on racks are being more widely used. For example, Fujitsu Siemens' "Flexframe" server is based on blade technology that makes it possible to concentrate up to 300 servers within one case.
Voice and data convergence is the dominant theme in network technology at CeBit, but there will be little here in the way of innovation. "The topic of VoIP is not in the foreground this time around," said Carsten Queisser, marketing manager for Cisco Germany. "The market is moving along. We're very happy about the development of VoIP," said Queisser.
In the mobile communication market, UMTS networks are expected to open up before the end of the year. Terminal equipment should therefore be on the way. Among others, Nokia is showing its Model 6650, Sony Ericsson is introducing the Z1010 and Motorola has two UMTS cell phones, the A820 and the A835. The common denominator for all these devices is outfitting them with a camera and relatively high-resolution color display. Data transmission is reaching 384 KBit/s.
While UMTS has yet to be tested in day-to-day use, wireless LANs (WLANs) are hot, and not just in offices. They are springing up in hotels, train stations and airports. CeBit itself is a good example: All buildings are equipped with access points based on the 802.11b standard, and, for a fee, attendees can plug in to the service.
Consumer electronics emerges
Intelligence is increasingly being built into consumer electronics devices in the form of processors, memory and software. Cell phones with built-in cameras or MP3-capable PDAs illustrate just how fuzzy the boundaries are between entertainment electronics, messaging technology and IT.
A Korean exhibitor, Imri, for example, is showing a "Smart PDA phone" called Lenio that combines the functions of a Windows PDA with a CDMA portable telephone. It is also equipped with a camera. It can also be used as a voice recorder. The device communicates not only via digital cellular network, but also with Bluetooth, infrared and serial connections. Computing power is provided by an Intel XScale processor running at 400 MHz.
Christoph Hammerschmidt is editor-in-chief of EETimes.de.
