WAN cabling at the IBM booth at the CeBIT trade fair. (Photo : Reuters)
China's presence at this year's CeBit trade show, to be held from March 16-20 in Hanover, Germany, has been declared as "huge" and a "major event" in the technology press this week, while Oliver Frese of the Deutsche Messe Board announced that China is "the most important partner country of all time!"
Frese's statement was heard by media representatives at a press preview event on Wednesday morning, which also occurred in Hanover.
Frese's exhibition company will oversee CeBit this year and, in addition to his praise for China, he also made sure that reporters left Wednesday's event with an understanding that CeBit is the world's greatest tech trade show.
The German asserted: "It's all fine and dandy, with colorful and noisy products, like fridges, but the real money is made in the B2B sector. [CeBit] has less colorful and noisy products but [they are] more beneficial for the IT market."
Frese's bold comments are backed up by the data. Professor Dieter Kempf, president of Bitkom, spoke at the preview about rising IT sales figures, including a distinct shift to B2B, and the last quarter of 2014, which represented the best sales period for the global technology sector in a very long time.
Employment figures are also robust, and the president explained that "two thirds of IT companies are hiring, and only five percent expect to decline in size."
Frese further explained that digitization, a "megatrend," is the key theme of this year's trade event. According to Frese, the answers to all questions on digitization will be found at CeBit 2015.
China will feature a Partner Country showcase titled "Innovation, Convergence, Cooperation." Exhibits will be shown from more than 600 Chinese companies, including Alibaba, Huawei and Xiaomi. The Chinese booth will cover an area larger than 2,000 square meters. Furthermore, Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba, will deliver a keynote address.
The theme of the press preview fits with CeBit's ongoing aim to define itself as the major "horizontal" show, whereby all areas of technology, including the social and political implications, are covered.
