Hundreds of thousands of visitors will descend on the seven-day CeBit 2002 trade show to view and test innovations in software, online commerce, IT engineering, and other voice, vision and data systems.
The industry is still struggling to climb out of a pit after a boom year in 2000. Economic downturn, intensified by attacks on the United States last September, has curbed investment. As a result, companies are now focusing on cost-saving and production-enhancing technologies.
CeBit has in the past hosted the launch of the 8-bit computer, Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system, the Commodore C64 and Apple Computer's handheld Newton. But this year there will be fewer high-tech toys and greater attention paid to technology that's secure and can cut costs.
Investors too have become more sober after the big drop in equity values of IT companies.
"A year or more ago, every time a vendor came out with a new product, the stock would jump," said a telecommunications analyst at a major bank in London. "Now the fundamentals--the financials play a much larger role, and people are waiting to see a recovery in the industry first."
The show where Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 1981 claimed that no one would ever need more than 640K of computer memory--tiny by modern standards--now boasts a keynote speech from Steve Ballmer, the company's chief executive, who will discuss mobile entertainment and communications.
It coincides with a race in which Finland's Nokia and Microsoft are battling for dominance in mobile software.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, facing an election later this year, will on Tuesday evening officially open CeBit, hoping no doubt that it will support signs that business confidence in Germany is edging up and that a recession is finally bottoming out.
Color-screen handsets
New products eagerly awaited are the latest color-screen handsets from Nokia, possibly including its first third-generation cell phone for superfast wireless networks. Nokia is also planning a trading update for Tuesday.
However, analysts will also look for clues about whether wireless telecom operators, many of which are struggling with huge debts after making large investments in spectrum licenses, will further postpone investments in new mobile networks.
Internet security and identification cards are likely to generate interest from the political environment, as governments arm themselves against future acts of terrorism. Secure e-mail and public infrastructure IT are part of the issue.
Integrating corporate computer networks with Internet services is also key for businesses seeking to get the most out of their technology investments. The advent of new standards discussed at CeBit will make integration, which takes up 30 percent of corporate IT budgets, simpler and cheaper.
Telecom equipment makers, such as Alcatel, could provide marketing pushes for much cheaper high-speed Internet access technologies over digital subscriber lines. DSL has caught on in Germany, with 2 million subscribers, but the rest of Europe lags, analysts said.
Over 60 percent of the 7,962 exhibitors this year--slightly down from over 8,000 last year--will be from Germany, followed by Taiwan with 594, the United States with 345, Britain with 281 and South Korea with 162.
Last year about 850,000 visitors attended--one-fifth coming from abroad--while 60,000 viewers tuned in live on the Internet to watch the show.
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