CeBIT’s organizers claim it is not only “the world's largest trade fair for the IT industry, but is the largest tradeshow of any kind, anywhere in the world.” The figures support this: in size, CeBIT covers over 420,000 square meters – nearly four times the size of the next largest IT show, COMDEX. The chart shows the growth in visitor and exhibitor numbers to CeBIT.

CeBIT started back in the 1950s as an office-equipment fair. In 1970, Hall 1 was opened, which has since been hailed as the world's largest single-story exhibition hall. In 1970, CeBIT had just 60,900 visitors and 638 exhibitors. In 1996, CeBIT Home was established as a separate tradeshow to ensure that CeBIT was aimed at the business market.

The name comes from the German acronym for ‘Center for Office and Information Technology’ – with the desire for the word ‘BIT’ in the title narrowly avoiding the show being named CeBOT.
Examining the exhibitors at CeBIT illustrates the countries at the forefront of the IT market. Although the exhibitor profile partly reflects the importance of national shows, it seems highly surprising that Taiwan is the second largest exhibitor. Given the Asian presence at CeBIT 2001, it is perhaps not unexpected that CeBIT is now planning a show in Asia – to be held in August in Shanghai. The exhibitor numbers are also slightly misleading, as they represent the country that is invoiced for the show – for example, only 35 Japanese companies are listed for 2001, but this figure would reach closer to 150 if German subsidiaries of Japanese companies were included. The chart shows the CeBIT 2001 exhibitor list by country, excluding those from Germany which number a massive 4,981.

Reasons for the success of CeBIT
Jörg Schumberg, MD of CeBIT since 1979, believes its success is due to five main reasons: staff who understand the technology, media and telecom (TMT) industry; minor enhancements every year with more major changes every four years; summit meeting for journalists (more than 10,000 attended last year), scientists and standards bodies as well as big business; biggest trade show in every area of TMT; and the synergistic benefits of all areas of the TMT market being covered.

Critics of CeBIT suggest that the show has become too big for the infrastructure in Hannover. The town’s population is only 514,000, and its location in Northern Germany is hardly the most convenient for international travellers. The area suffers from a lack of accommodation, despite the willingness of the local populace to let out their homes for the week.

However, the exhibition and transport facilities are excellent, which is part of the reason that the CeBIT showgrounds hosted an EXPO in 2000. This has led to new roads and an airport shuttle system being built. Schumberg believes that “simply no other showground is big enough for CeBIT.”

The future
In terms of the future, Schumberg believes that the EXPO does ensure that CeBIT 2001 will be broadly similar to CeBIT 2000. However, CeBIT is acquiring other exhibitions that will be re-branded. The idea is not to compete directly with the Hannover event, but to attract different attendees, particularly those who would not travel to Germany for a tradeshow. The event in 2002 will also see a re-structuring of the event, with many exhibitors moving from their current locations. The aim is to create a structure for the show that mimics the industry segmentation. This has already been agreed in consultation with leading players in the TMT market.

The main reason for the success of CeBIT is its ability to attract huge numbers of decision-makers and buyers: visitor and exhibitor numbers rise each year. This is why key product announcements will be made at CeBIT 2001 – for example, all the latest mobile products and prototypes, including those from Palm, Nokia and Ericsson – which in turn explains why it also attracts companies and visitors from around the world.

What's in this special section?
This special section looks at some of the key technologies and services that will be discussed at CeBIT 2001. It answers the key question: what should your company be doing in response to these issues?