PHOTO GALLERY: CeBIT Australia hails record ‘08 show

There was no seven-year itch at CeBIT 2008 with visitor numbers rising six percent from last year. 35,173 attendees passed through the Sydney Exhibition Centre doors with the event also attracting more business technology exhibitors than ever before, with 140 international exhibitors present.

This year also witnessed a stronger channel focus after CRN hosted a series of afternoon seminars. Barry Freeman of IT channel consultancy, Quantify Corporation, presented an insight into successful channel marketing. Charles Cote, country manager of vendor Fortinet, carried out a keynote address on introducing emerging technologies through the channel. His presentation formed the platform for a panel discussion on the same subject with Freeman, Cote and Michael Costigan, marketing director of distributor Avnet.

“We had a great show this year with some terrific content in both the exhibition side as well as our conference events,” said Jackie Taranto, managing director of Hannover Fairs Australia, the organisers of CeBIT Australia. “We’re very happy also that we continued to bring so many overseas companies to Australia, contributing significant inward investment.

“We have had great feedback from our exhibitors and we’ve heard anecdotally of some great deals getting done on the showfloor. The quality of the business visitors has improved enormously over the past two years as a direct result of significant investment in our registration and marketing platforms, and that is gratifying to see,” added Taranto.