India Dazzles At CeBIT99

Indian software industry stood tall displaying its world

class services and products at the recently held CeBIT'99 at Hannover, Germany. It was

probably the best show India ever displayed at CeBIT, with 22 Indian companies displaying

their latest wares

On the threshold of the year 2000, CeBIT'99 provided more

proof positive of the IT industry's extraordinary dynamic development, with a vast range

of exhibits in the categories of Software, Telecommunications, Network Computing, the

Internet, Multimedia and Office Automation. The IT industry has an enormous impact on all

other business sectors and plays a key role in the development of the global economy. With

close to 400,000 sq mtr of net display space sold this year, CeBIT Hannover emerged not

only the world's largest fair for the IT industry, but also the biggest trade show of any

kind, anywhere in the world.

This year, the focus at CeBIT was undoubtedly e-commerce. Microsoft, IBM, Yahoo! and many
upcoming companies were displaying their latest wares in e-commerce. New products on

Internet, networking, Internet security were the other hot products at

CeBIT.






CeBIT Hannover continues to follow an unprecedented, record-breaking
course. During the seven days of the show, more than 700,000 fair goers joined the 7,341

exhibitors from 60 different countries at the Hannover Exhibition Center. These visitors

collected information, laid the groundwork for procurement decisions and closed business

deals. The range of exhibits presented at the show reflected the complete array of

information and communication technologies (ICT) on the international market. These

technologies have led to the creation of a new global network in the world of business and

communications.






The number of hits at CeBIT Web site(http://www.cebit.de/) practically doubled
in comparison to last year. The Opening Ceremony of the CeBIT show was broadcast live on

the Internet for the first time.






If CeBIT Web site recorded a large number of hits, the dominance of Internet at the show
was also very evident. Shopping on the Internet has become a big business. The major

software manufacturers and consulting services are now focusing on linking the Internet

shopping mall to such logistic processes as warehousing, invoicing and shipping.






New technologies


The most promising displays at CeBIT were new technologies for convergence.
State-of-the-art object-oriented software components are expected to fully automate

communications and networking for mobile offices leading to ultimate convergence. Sun

Microsystems' Jini platform promises to render communication between terminal equipment so

intelligent that even cameras, scanners and all types of network components will be able

to log onto the LAN automatically.






At this year's CeBIT show, many exhibitors presented solutions using the recently
standardized Gigabit Ethernet to accelerate speeds on the Intranet. ATM technology has

established itself as the technology for applications that make particular demands on

quality of service. The trend toward convergence of data and voice networks continues

unabated. Network fusion simplifies network management and makes it possible to provide

such services as multimedia over IP or virtual private network.






Indian Contingent


While CeBIT'99 attracted exhibitors and visitors from around the world, 22 Indian
software companies participated at the India Pavilion. Some of the names included

Akshay, Aptech, L&T, Polaris, Mahindra British Telecom, Newgen, C-DAC and

VSNL. "India

was the first and the only partner country ever at CeBIT in 1988. Since then, India has

made mindboggling progress and assumed global eminence," said

Schomberg, CEO, CeBIT.

He further said, "We certainly welcome a much bigger participation from India.

"Far Eastern countries speak native languages, while in India, English is

widespread," said Dr Gerhard Reckel, Manager, Electronics and Software, Indo-German

Export Promotion Project (IGEP), who has been associated with the Indian IT Industry over

the past two decades. "Indian IT professionals are amongst the best in the

world...India has the most cost-effective, technically-skilled, English-speaking

manpower." he added.






The India Pavilion


The India Pavilion at CeBIT'99, spread over an area of 204 sq mtr, was
co-sponsored by NASSCOM, DoE and IGEP. "Direct mailing of more than 4,500 India

Booklets by NASSCOM, which included information on the advantages of doing software

business with India and the exhibitors' profile, to end-user organizations in Europe has

gone a long way in attracting businessmen to the Pavilion," said Dr

Kebschull,

Director, IGEP. "There can be no question that this year's CeBIT led to concrete

business successes as well as to a more positive outlook to the future business

activity," said an Indian exhibitor. The exhibitors at the India Pavilion also

emphasized that "thanks to the pre-event marketing efforts put in by

NASSCOM, the

quality of visiting professionals, particularly with respect to their decision-making

authority, was very evident this year."






One of the attractions at the Pavilion this year was the live videoconference organized by
VSNL displaying the high-speed data communication infrastructure available in India.

In future years, CeBIT is expected to grow even larger,

especially with the organization of

Going by the performance of India at CeBIT, the next few

years seem to be 'Eurocentric' to the Indian software industry.