Bangalore IT.com draws to a close

BANGALORE: Dubbed as Asia's largest international ICT event, Bangalore IT.com 2002 came to an end on Friday amidst heavy rains lashing the city. The state IT minister D.B. Inamdar expressed satisfaction on the five-day event that showcased several Indian and global IT and telecom companies and issues. "It was an improvement than last year. This year, we received better participation in almost all areas as compared to last year. The quality of business visitors also improved. Perhaps the only area where the numbers were less was the general visitors, which was adversely effected by rains," he said. The event, which was inaugurated by President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, saw many important delegates, both from the business and political community attending the conferences and exhibition.

This year there were there were 264 companies that participated against 252 last year. Of these, 230 had put up their stalls at the exhibition and 53 foreign companies had participated for the first time. There were 42 sponsors this year against 56 last year. While 16 countries had their stalls, 13 Indian states too were present. A few IT minister of these states or the executive head visited the city during the event to solicit business participation.

While 50,000 business visitors (5000 more than last year) attended the exhibition and conferences, 150,000 general visitors came to see the exhibition. The event also attracted 300 delegates from different countries.

Besides the exhibition, which was spread over a gross area of 15000 square meters, seven conferences were held as part of the Bangalore IT.com 2002. Last year there were five conferences. These conferences were attended by 1500 delegates. While the CEO Conclave was attended by 300 company chiefs, the Students Internet World, where the President took a class himself, was attended by 30,000 students over the five days. The state IT secretary pointed out that this year, the objective of the banking and finance seminar was to attract the user community. "This was being done on an experimental basis this year and was very successful," he added.

Next year's edition of Bangalore IT.com will be held during November 1-5, as was the practice till last year.