Dubai/Hanover: Cebit 2010, the world's largest Information Technology exhibition, opened its doors on Tuesday in the northern German city of Hanover for IT exhibitors and over 700,000 expected visitors.
"Companies from 68 nations are coming to Cebit this year to achieve new growth for their business," said Ernst Raue, member of the managing board of Deutsche Messe, on Monday in Hanover.
"In 2010 Cebit will once again serve as the digital industry's most dynamic marketplace. Hanover is the place where providers, users and political representatives come together to network," he continued.
On Monday evening, the fair was officially opened by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The opening ceremony also marked the occasion for the first public appearance by SAP's co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe since their appointment at the beginning of February.
"Cebit is coming at exactly the right time," said Raue. "In some segments of the ICT market, the mood is gradually beginning to pick up, since the investment backlog over the past 18 months is gradually beginning to dissolve. The industry naturally still has to deal with the economic crisis, but Cebit's traction remains unbroken."
A recent sample survey of ICT users commissioned by Cebit revealed that the willingness to invest had gone up substantially over the past few weeks.
"Companies from Germany and abroad are now tackling ICT projects which had been put on ice in 2008 and 2009 as a result of the global economic crisis. This development becomes tangible at Cebit," said Raue.
Almost 300 companies are participating for the first time at this year's Cebit, including Google, the American internet service provider Amazon Web Services, Japanese music instrument manufacturer Roland, Spanish telecom group Telefonica and British manufacturer 3M Touch Systems. More than 100 firms returned to Cebit after taking a break from the event, including AMD, Ericsson, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Terratec and Trend Micro.
All in all, a total of 4,157companies (2009: 4,292) from 68 nations (2009: 69) are appearing at this years's fair. And the organisers are expecting more than 100 political and business delegations to attend.
Cebit 2010 is focusing "on the fundamental trends in the world of ICT, above and beyond the individual components in the digital supply chain", said Raue:
"Many exhibitors have integrated the keynote theme of ‘Connected Worlds' into their own presentations," he said. "Cebit will offer an impressive demonstration of how the borders between work and leisure, mobile and stationary, online and offline continue to disappear.
