Conroy and buzzwords to kick start CeBIT in Sydney

Stan Beer
Monday, 11 May 2009 16:26

IT Industry - Market

With more than 400 exhibitors, CeBIT Australia 2009 will easily be the biggest IT&T local show this year and Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy, always good for a controversial comment or two, should provide a sufficient kick start to get people through doors for the opening. If not, there will be plenty of buzzword technology on display.

According to Jackie Taranto, managing director of Hannover Fairs, one of the big drawcards of this year's show, which runs at Darling Harbour from May 12-14, will be a local version of the Webciety exhibition.

"We launched that in Hannover this year and basically we're showcasing what Australia's best practitioners have to offer in terms of web applications software," Ms Taranto says.

"We think that Australia has some great talent in that area. Some great companies that we've hand picked will be showing their wares."

Another big area will enterprise, according to Ms Taranto.

"There will be a lot to do with cloud computing and the kind of integration going into that area. And that has a lot to do with data centres which is an integral part of the shift to cloud computing - especially in the government and large corporate sectors," she says.

"There will be a lot of new companies (exhibiting) in that area.

"Also with cloud computing comes virtualisation which really does cut capital and costs, which is allowing scalability and flexibility."

Having already mentioned the big IT buzzwords of today, Ms Taranto would have been remiss not to drop the biggest IT&T buzzword in Australia right now.

"We hope that with the new NBN, we hope that (the move to cloud computing) will even increase further.

"On the show, there will be a lot of exhibits in those areas, showcasing solutions for business. In the global downturn it's an excellent time to source IT solutions with great offers and tax incentives that will run out on 30 June."

The exhibition floor will have a business technology Global Conferences program, with 129 local and international speakers from industry, government and academia discussing the latest trends and directions of technology from research and development to broadband infrastructure to business processes to web-based search and marketing techniques.

The event kicks off at 8am with the official Opening Ceremony, with the NSW Premier Nathan Rees, and Senator Conroy, who will also deliver the keynote address at 9am at CeBIT Australia’s AusInnovate conference.

Senator Conroy’s appearance at CeBIT Australia will be his last before flying back to Canberra later that day to attend the Budget Session of Parliament.

Key international and local speakers will include:

     * Professor Dr Dieter Rombach, the executive director of the Experimental Software Engineering division of Europe’s largest R&D think-tank, the Fraunhofer Institute;
    * Mr Jack Cassidy, the Managing Director of Bearing Point USA;
    * Ms Narelle Clark, the Director of CSIRO ICT Centre’s networking technologies laboratory;
    * Dr Mark Anderson, the Chief, Command Control Communications  & Intelligence Division of DSTO; and
    * Dr Warren Harch, the DSTO’s Deputy Chief Defence Scientist (Information & Weapons Systems).

Also on the opening day, the Rudd Government’s $43 billion NBN project will be a major focus of the Access conference.

Keynote speakers at the Infrastructure, Policy and Practice stream of Access include:
 
    * Mr Maha Krishnapillai, Optus’ Director of Corporate and Government Affairs;
    * Mr David Forman, Competitive Carriers Coalition Executive Director;
    * Mr Michael Malone, iiNet Managing Director; and
    * Senator Kate Lundy, Australian Government.

Enterprise

The third conference on CeBIT Australia’s opening day is Enterprise. Topics to be discussed include Cloud computing, virtualisation, CRM and SaaS.

Speakers will include:

     * Mr Mark Roberts, IT Business Development Manager for Rittal,
    * Mr Dylan Morison, the Cisco Data Centre Leader for Australia and New Zealand
    * Mr Geoff McQueen, the Managing Director of Hiive Systems,
    * Mr H.R. Shiever, the Managing Director of Citrix Systems  Hong Kong,
    * Mr Gianpaolo Carraro, Microsoft Platform developer; and
    * Mr Marc Lehmann, the founder and CEO of Saasu.com.