Comdex on the skids?

By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 19 Nov 2002 at 09:14

Exhibition organiser Key3Media was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy even as its showcase event Comdex Fall opened its doors in Las Vegas yesterday

The event specialist, which organises IT trade shows around the world, reported third quarter losses of US$315.7 million and said it was in negotiations with creditors and considering restructuring or filing for bankruptcy.

The company blamed weaker demand as the IT sector struggles to overcome its recession, with exhibitor and attendee attendance down at shows across the board.

'When the IT industry suffers, we suffer,' the company said.

The malaise continued as Comdex Fall 2002 got underway, with some 400 less stalls on display than last year and attendance struggling to reach 125,000. Just over a thousand stalls have been set up this year, down from a high point of more than 2,000 just two years ago, when 200,000 people attended the event.

However the event remains one of the major events in the IT calendar and is still the biggest show in North America, the largest IT market.

On the condensed show floor crowds still swarmed around the few technologies that are currently capturing the imagination.

Ironically, the terrorist threat that was blamed for low attendance in last year sparked a major interest in security and the areas specialising in biometrics, firewalls and anti-virus technologies were teeming.

But it was wireless that had punters scrambling for the free T-shirts and bouncy balls, with 802.11 Wi-Fi stands and presentations sending people radio ga-ga. 802.11a and its newer cousin, 11g, were the stars of the show, as wireless networking in the home becomes increasingly viable.

Long distance wireless infrastructure solutions for ISPs also attracted large crowds, with the technology believed to have the potential to bring broadband Internet access to areas where xDSL remains a pipedream.

However, while these hot-topic areas were enjoying the limelight, analysts were disappointed by the general lack of new technology on display and said many established companies found the expense of exhibiting outweighed the benefits.

Many companies have followed IBM's lead and chosen to rent suites in Las Vegas hotels, happy to feed off the magnet of Comdex that still attracts some keys players into town.