Last year I had a ticket to go to CeBIT, but decided that it wasn’t worth the time and effort to go into the Sydney CBD to see the same old thing that’s there every year. That’s probably a tad harsh, but I’d been going for a few years and the novelty was wearing off.
This year I got my ticket again and decided that I would go. Fortunately some friends from a small business VoIP provider around the corner invited me to drive in with them. It’s a heck of a lot more fun going along with people you know!
I don’t know the exact numbers behind it, but it seemed a lot smaller than the last time I went. This year there were two halls in use, where there may have been three in use previously. That’s just a guess, but it didn’t seem to take as long to get from one end to the other.
Either the economic crisis is biting or maybe the appeal of CeBIT is waning somewhat. Maybe it’s a combination of the two.
Highlights of CeBIT
My first point of call was to visit the stands of two of our Naked DSL providers – iinet and Internode. One of our contacts from Internode was there and we got to catch up for a few minutes before I let him talk to the interested bystanders. It was a good chance at iinet to meet some of the account managers and call centre staff – they have a great passion for their business. It was also a good opportunity to show them our Naked DSL website and what we’ve been working on!
Also just around the corner was MyNetFone, who introduced a Naked DSL service on the first day of CeBIT. It looks like they have some really cheap Naked DSL plans, with some good VoIP bundles, so we hope to be able to add them to the site shortly.
I remember seeing TPG at CeBIT several years ago, but they weren’t there this year.
Paul Budde’s Presentation
Other than meeting with the companies already mentioned, another highlight was listening to a presentation by Paul Budde, the leading telecommunications analyst in Australia. (Click here for Paul’s blog). This particular presentation was on the National Broadband Network (NBN) and the value of it for Australia. I won’t repeat his whole talk, but there were several things that jumped out at me.
- “Open networks drive innovation”.
He gave the example of the hundreds of people who have come to him in the past few years with ideas in the telecommunications/mobile/wireless/sms industry. In Australia almost everything in this industry has to go through Telstra, Optus or Vodafone. You set up the initial meeting and pitch your idea. The big telco says they’ll think about it and get back to you. You sit waiting for several weeks. After a month you haven’t heard so you call them and find out they’ve just had a management reshuffle and to call back in 6 months. The process continues. Finally after a couple of years the innovator is fed up and finally gives up. Budde said that less than five of the projects out of the several hundred that have been pitched to him have made it through the beauracracy of the big telcos. And some have had to go overseas to work.
Budde argued that with an open network, where all players have equal access, that innovation won’t be stifled like it currently is. That makes perfect sense to me. It’s an inspiring thought that enterprise, initiative and innovation with flourish under an open national fibre network. Budde challenged us to stop complaining and start innovating – that the next Google or Facebook entrepreneur could come from Australia.
- DSL technologies are still important.
Services like Naked DSL and ADSL2+ are not going to disappear any time soon. It looks like at least 5 years away before fibre starts to become available to many Australians. And even then we don’t know what the cost will be. Even after the fibre network is completed, the current PSTN copper network with services like Naked DSL and ADSL2+ will surely still remain active.
Strangest Promotional Gift
Without doubt this one goes to the guys at VIA from Taiwan. Their promotional product wasn’t pens, an enviro bag or a sticker…..it was some little plastic covers for the individual keys on your keyboard! Apparently so that your fingers don’t slip when you type??
You can check out the original supplier of these funny little things here. Judging by the Italian website, they seem to be more about looking cute than stopping finger slipage. But the ones I got didn’t have any monkeys or elephants on them. They are just plain blue with VIA on them. And now they are in the bin.
Other Thoughts on CeBIT
It’s obviously disappointing for everyone involved that there weren’t more exhibitors there. But those who were there were putting on a good show. I thought it was worth my time to go.
Will I go again next year? I’m not sure at this stage, but I think I probably will be at CeBIT 2010. The thing about this sort of event is that you never know when a chance meeting will occur that is of real benefit to you.
