NEW YORK -- The first CeBIT show in America may be all work and little play, but plenty of business-savvy gadgets abound at this confab hosted by the German conventioneer.
CeBIT America takes over the Javits Center here this week as a broad selection of vendors, including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and PalmSource, turn up the buzz on business tech wares amid a tech slump.
Between chatter over total cost of ownership and other enterprise issues, attendees will also be able to peruse pedestrian products like a sub-$1000 Tablet PC, a souped-up Handspring smartphone, and a selection of ever-faster wireless 802.11g products.
An estimated 20,000 CeBIT attendees are expected at the conference, about half the number originally forecast for the event last year. Attendees will be able to prowl 360 companies' exhibits. CeBIT America pales by comparison to the eight-day CeBIT ??ber-show held each spring in Hanover, Germany.
"CeBIT will not be like other shows," says Mark Dineen, CeBIT America, managing director. Dineen says CeBIT America is purposely avoiding the fanfare of similar shows like PC Expo and Comdex. "We are trying to lower the volume on convention hype and allow people to get down to business."
Instead of aisles of booths lining the show floors, exhibitors will be clustered within related technologies, with lounge areas liberally available, Dineen says.
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