The first summit meeting of the elite in the ICT industry will take place in the Hannover Congress Centrum (Germany) at 11 Mar, on the eve of CeBIT 2003. The ICT World Forum will host 30 keynote speakers from some worlds top information technology, telecommunications and consulting companies. Edelgard Bulmahn, German Federal Minister for Education and Research, and John H. Marburger, head of the OSTP (Office of Science and Technology Policy) and scientific adviser of the President of USA will open the Forum.
According to the organisation, this summit meeting of the ICT industry is geared in particular to promoting an exchange of ideas and opinions, the establishment of business networks and the cultivation of personal contact. The seminars will aim at discussing on how companies can regain the confidence of clients and investors, open up new markets and emerge with renewed strength from the recent period of economic downturn.
For example, George Forrester Colony, CEO at Forrester Research, will show how web services and highly integrated ‘organic IT can be used profitably to take advantage of existing capital investment without additional cost.
Thomas Ganswindt, group president of Siemens Information & Communication Networks, will emphasise that it makes sense for suppliers to work out business models for clients. According to Ganswindt the conventional supplier/buyer relationship is something that definitely belongs to the past.
Frank Cloutier, CTO of the Imaging and Printer Group at Hewlett Packard, will explain in his lecture that peripheral equipment with clearly extended IP functions can help to increase efficiency and contribute to new added value.
Joaquim Agut, executive chairman of Terra Lycos, puts forward the provocative question as to the real value of the internet and whether there really are internet-based business models. In his opinion an internet company can be quite successful with a strategy geared closely to client needs, even under the difficult market conditions prevailing at present.
Juniper Networks, CEO Scott Kriens will talk about low-cost services designed to generate increased turnover. Kriens sees an enormous, so far virtually unrealised potential in convergent networks and products with integrated network-based services.
Brian L. Halla, CEO of National Semiconductor Corporation, has announced a milestone in the development of the internet. In the coming summer the company will present a technological development which will produce a growth rate unrivalled by anything in the past. During the ICT World Forum @ CeBIT 2003 he will provide a foretaste of the new development. So far Halla has revealed very little about the ingredients of the new magic formula.
The question as to whether the ICT sector will lose its role as the driving force in the economy and todays society, or whether it will still continue to serve as a major factor in economic and social change will be discussed by Adrian von Hammerstein, President and CEO of Fujitsu Siemens Computers.
Filipe Samora
2003-03-05
Em Foco – Projecto