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A
total of 63,814 international attendees,
of which 49 per cent were from overseas,
saw the latest products and services birthed
out of convergence that are expected to
change the way consumers and businesses
will use and interact with electronic devices.
Attendance at this year's event has increased
by five per cent from 2005.
Singapore
Exhibition Services chief executive Stephen
Tan said, "The convergence of technology
has spawned off a whole new range of exciting
digital lifestyle applications many of which
were seen on the show floor. Clearly, the
focus at this year's exhibitions is on content
for handhelds and the race is on among content
providers to come up with new and exciting
applications that will enhance mobility
for both consumers and businesses. The increase
in attendance at BroadcastAsia, CommunicAsia
and EnterpriseIT and reflects a surge in
industry confidence as convergence becomes
reality."
Digital
lifestyle showcase
Ericsson
showcased a video dating service where one
can record a personal video message and
send to new acquaintances, and a video karaoke
where the user can call to see other singers
and rate them as well as sing along to text
and music and record it on video.
On
display at NTT Docomo was a technology that
allows pet owners to see their pets as well
as dispense food into the feeding bowl through
their mobile phones. MyHeart by Philips
Research Laboratories monitors a person's
health using intelligent biomedical clothes.
The data is then sent via a wireless personal
area network to a mobile phone or PDA and
from there to a health care provider.
Other
mobile lifestyle applications at CommunicAsia
included Bidshot - the first ever auction
website that allows members to buy, and
sell through their mobile phones, XFinance
which is a mobile financial management tool
which provides an overview of all your income,
as well as Xovulation which is a mobile
family planning tool.
At
BroadcastAsia, Innoxius Technologies showcased
a gadget that turns a PDA into a multi-system
mobile digital TV receiver for standards
such as DVB-H, DVB-T, T-DMB, DAB and enhanced
packet mode DAB standards in various spectrum
ranges.
French
exhibitor Visiware launches the first triple-play
gaming offer available on TV, mobile and
broadband. Games can be played on the TV
at home then continued on the mobile or
internet. BroadcastAsia also hosted a DVB-H,
DMB and Qualcomm's MediaFLO feature, which
demonstrated the capabilities of each standard
to bring content onto handhelds.
Launch
pad for international players
BroadcastAsia,
CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT remain an
important platform for international players
to reach Asia's markets. This year, China's
participation at CommunicAsia grew by 45
per cent.
"Participation
in premier industry events, such as CommunicAsia,
continue to be a good platform for Huawei
to not only reach out to key influencers
in the region, but also to deepen our relationship
with existing and potential key customers.
We have participated in CommunicAsia for
more than five years and look forward to
next year's show," said Huawei Technologies
Asia Pacific vice-president Liu Jianfeng.
The
Korean presence on the BroadcastAsia show
floor has doubled from last year. Korean
Broadcasting Commission technology director
Park Jun-Seon said, "Last year's event
was very successful in introducing DMB as
one of the latest platforms for convergence
services and this year we are here to showcase
latest applications available through DMB.
BroadcastAsia is a must attend event for
breakthrough technologies such as DMB."
The
exhibitions are seeing strong participation
from Europe. The European ICT Pavilion,
which was at CommunicAsia for the first
time, provided an exciting snapshot of new,
leading-edge technologies, products and
applications for audio-visual, e-Government,
e-health, e-security, and telecommunications.
A
strategic meeting place
For
many exhibitors, BroadcastAsia, CommunicAsia
and EnterpriseIT were ideal platforms to
showcase their latest offerings, network
and meet target buyers.
"We
have found the show to be one of the means
to launch and showcase our new wireline
and wireless service offerings and solutions
to our customers around this region. It
is also a very good platform for our executives
from across the globe to meet customers
in this region and understand their needs
so as to better our products for them,"
said Ericsson Telecommunications Pte Ltd
head of communications (Singapore) Jacinta
Ong.
Echolab
was represented at BroadcastAsia two years
back through their agents. However, this
year the USA-based company considered the
event important for them to book a space
on their own. Echolab regional sales manager
William Gray said, "BroadcastAsia presented
us with a wonderful opportunity to reach
some countries that are not easy to reach
from the USA and also to rope in potential
distributors."
Commenting
on the CommunicAsia Summit, Lucent Technologies
Singapore CTO South East Asia region Madhusudan
Pandya said, "In-depth discussions
on the most exciting and up-to-the-minute
technologies, business solutions, and revenue-generating
applications made the summit exceptional."
"I
find CommunicAsia going beyond its name.
It has truly become an international event,
granting participants the world over to
connect and converge more effectively and
efficiently in a short duration of three
days," he added.
Trade
visitors armed with a $4.5 billion sourcing
budget came looking to purchase the latest
products and services and explore potential
business alliances.
"We
are here to look at the different types
of broadcasting technologies and compare
systems to find out which ones will suit
us the best. We intend to upgrade our facilities
and plan to buy equipment worth millions
of dollars," said Setsiri Trisaksri
from the Royal Thai Army Radio and TV, Thailand.
"I'm
a regular visitor here and this is my fourth
show in a row. We are looking for small
and medium enterprises, which develop niche
technology. Here we find these people and
we partner with them. We have been very
successful in doing that and that's why
we love coming to CommunicAsia. It's a great
meeting place," said Precision Electronics
Ltd India president Nikhil Kanodia.
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