CeBIT Asia: Consumer, small business solutions

DSL, wired and wireless local area networking seem pretty hot in China right now, as there were a fair number of companies showcasing DSL modems, LAN cabling, connectors, accessories, hubs, routers switches, wireless LAN access points--all clearly aimed at offices and homes.

For instance, Intel sponsored wireless LAN connectivity for notebook computers in the pressroom, while its stand had a mockup of the interior of a bus where visitors could sit down and access the Internet on notebook PCs fitted with wireless LAN cards.

There were many telecommunications equipment manufacturers like Kyocera, Haire, Panasonic, Samsung and others, held Sept. 2 to 5 but they mainly showcased mobile phones and other consumer communications devices.

These included accessories like covers, batteries, handsfree kits and so on.

Siemens China had a fairly large stand at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in Pudong across the Huangpu River from old Shanghai, but it didn’t feature the sophisticated telecoms infrastructure equipment one has to come to expect from the Germany-headquartered company.

Conspicuously absent were other big telco manufacturers like Ericsson and Nokia, and even China’s own Huawei Technologies and ZTE.

Homegrown telcos who were present, like China Mobile, were mainly promoting their services, which included Internet access over its GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and others.

CeBIT Asia 2002’s strong consumer and business end-user orientation seemed to reflect the current state of adoption and demand for IT products, office infrastructure and services in China, as well as what China currently has to offer the world.

The CeBIT spirit
Despite this strong consumer orientation, CeBIT Asia organizers maintained it was not out of line with the CeBIT fair in Hannover, which is a showcase of office automation, information technology and telecommunications products and services.

CeBIT at Hannover features low-tech items like mobile phones, all the way up to leading edge technologies, products and equipment.

Altogether 50,062 visitors attended CeBIT Asia 2002, including 6,840 foreign visitors. The total number of visitors almost doubled from 25,384 last year.

While the number of foreign exhibitors was down this year to 371 from 397, the number of exhibitors from China went up by over 50 percent from 112 last year to 173 this time.

CeBIT Asia may be young, but organizer Deutsche Messe has high hopes for it. The company’s decision to branch out and organize regional CeBIT events was a strategic business decision to develop its overseas business, as well as to attract exhibitors and visitors from its regional fairs to attend CeBIT in Hannover.

“We decided to have one fixed regional site for CeBIT per region, so we chose New York for the Americas, Sydney for Australia, Istanbul for Eurasia and Shanghai for Asia,” said Deutsche Messe managing director Jorg Schomburg.

Deutsche Messe chose Shanghai because it expects China to become the second largest IT market in the world after the United States within a few years.

As Shanghai emerges as China’s most important and fastest-growing business and financial center, Deutsche Messe expects it will eventually become the country’s center of economic development and the hub for IT business in Asia.

CeBIT Asia was jointly organized by Hannover Fairs China, a Deutsche Messe subsidiary, and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade’s Electronics and Information Industry sub-council.