User:Amidasu~enwiki/CeBIT



CeBIT (Centrum der Büro- und Informationstechnik; German for "Centre of Office and Information technology") is the world's largest computer expo. Since 1986 it is held each spring on the exhibition ground in Hannover, Germany, and is often regarded as a barometer of the state of the art in information technology. With an exhibition area of roughly 450,000 m² (5 million ft²), over 6,111 exhibitors and more than 755,000 visitors in 1995, it was larger than COMPUTEX and the no-longer held COMDEX. In recent years both the number of visitors as well as exhibitors dropped significantly; by 2008, the CeBIT expo attendance was at 495,000. In 2009 it takes place from 3 March to 8 March 2009. The CeBIT is organized by Deutsche Messe AG.

History


The CeBIT has its roots in the industrial Hanover Fair. By the late 1950s the “office equipment industry” (as it was then called) already ranked as the third largest exhibitor group. The Fair reflected the “electronics boom” in the 1960s and saw a number of technological highlights. In 1965, for example, Heinz Nixdorf (who was later to become one of Germany's best known entrepreneurs) presented his 820 universal computer. In 1970 Deutsche Messe AG underscored the importance of office equipment at the Hanover fair when it opened the new Hall 1 adjacent to the northern entrance of the exhibition site. In 1984 Hall 1 found its way into the Guinness Book of Records as the “world's largest single-storey exhibition hall”. The inauguration of the new hall coincided with the search for a new name for this exhibit category. One suggestion was “CeBOT” – from the German acronym for “Centrum für Büro und Organisationstechnik” (literally Center for Office and Organization). Ultimately, however, the Exhibitors' Advisory Committee decided in favor of “CeBIT” from “Centrum für Büro und Informationstechnik” (Center for Office and Information Technology). At that time no one could have foreseen the extent to which the data processing market would divide into more and more segments and grow at an extremely fast rate. The capacities in Hall 1 were soon exhausted. By the beginning of the 1980 three more halls were assigned to CeBIT. More and more PC manufacturers as well as data processing and software companies wanted to use CeBIT as a presentation platform. The original “Center for Office and Information Technology” had now become the “World Center for Office, Information and Communications Technology”. With almost 7,000 exhibitors and over 800,000 visitors, the 1985 Hanover fair had reached its capacity limits. It was the last fair to include the CeBIT.

1986 was the first year when CeBIT took place as a separate event from the Hanover fair, preceding it by a month. 2,142 exhibitors presented their products, systems and services on a net display area in excess of 200,000 square meters. 334,400 visited the expo.

At the peak of its success at 1995, the CeBIT housed 6,111 exhibitors and had more than 755,000 visitors. At the same time it had become less attractive to professionals, as one third of the total attendance (218,000 visitors) were non-professionals. Trying to "reprofessionalized" the fair, Deutsche Messe AG decided to organize a spin-off, the ultimately short-lived CeBIT HOME.

Exhibition Program
The CeBIT is focusing on technologies and products, as well as on complete solutions for concrete applications. The CeBIT 2009 features the following topics:



California as "Partner State 2009"
In 2009, the U.S. state of California will be the official Partner State of Germany's IT and telecommunications industry association, BITKOM, and of CeBIT.

The focus will be on environmentally-friendly technologies - a topic that played a key role at CeBIT 2008, where Green IT was specially featured.

The Partner State California program addresses topics ranging from Document Management, InfoSecurity, Open Source, and Telematics & Navigation, to eHealth & TeleHealth, Public Sector applications and IP issues.

CeBIT Worldwide

 * CeBIT Bilisim eurasia 07 - 12 October 2008 Tüyap Exhibition and Congress Center Beylikdüzü-Istanbul, Turkey
 * Logistics & ICT Asia 28 - 29 October 2008 Renaissance Shanghai Pudong Hotel Pudong / Shanghai, PR China
 * CeBIT Broadcast Cable & Satellite Eurasia 20 - 23 November 2008 New World Trade Center Istanbul, Turkey
 * CeBIT Australia 12 - 14 May 2009 Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre Sydney, Australia
 * ISCe - International Satellite & Communications exchange 2 - 4 June 2009 San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina San Diego, California
 * Multi-Platform Content Distribution Conference & Expo 27 - 28 July 2009 Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City Los Angeles, CA