Locals present or unaccounted for... Comdex
PacRim
by Alan Zisman
(c) 1998. First
published in Computer Player, February 1998
Running for three days, January 20-22nd, the fourth
annual PacRim Comdex
exhibition brought an estimated thousands of visitors to Vancouver's BC
Place?prior to the event, the exhibit was predicting attendance of
35,000,
about 40% above last year's figure. There, visitors had the opportunity
to browse exhibits from 225 computer and communications
companies-
both local and international.
Despite an official cost of $50 for entry to the main
exhibition hall
it seemed that most visitors were able to get in with a free
pre-registration,
but 600 paid between $195 for one day to $395 (the full meal deal).
This
enabled registrants to attend their choice of over 30 sessions where
panels
of guest speakers provided their visions of the directions of rapidly
evolving
technology, looking at areas such as Web Site Profit Analysis, and NT
5.0
and Beyond.
In addition, the conference featured speeches by four
keynote speakers:
* Don Calder, President of BC Tel-how the
telecommunications industry
is planning to ramp up Internet connection speed
* Don Chapman, General Manager of Novell Canada-how the Internet and
technological change is creating a powerful 'World of Me'
* Dan Ling, Microsoft Research director-how evolving technologies will
make it possible for computers to understand human speech-not just the
words, but the meaning as well
* Paul Flaherty, research engineer from Digital Equipment-how the
Internet
changes the focus of work from information gathering to decision making
The stated focus of the exhibition was on helping
business people learn
to deal with rapidly evolving technology. Exhibits, keynotes, and
conferences
all revolved around this theme. In fact, in a somewhat controversial
move,
Comdex management, for the first time, limited attendance to
participants
aged 21 or over-a move that would have banned Bill Gates at the time he
co-founded Microsoft.
While it was easy to lose them in the flood of better
known names, a
number of Vancouver and BC companies had products on display. These
included:
* Seanix Technologies, the Richmond computer
manufacturer boldly venturing
into the competitive US market, and winning praise from publications
such
as PC/Computing and Windows Magazine for its product line
* Kerrisdale's Impaq Technology serving laptop users with the
well-regarded
Eurocom product line, including new, powerful, 266 mHz models
* The Electric Mail Company, providing an answer for businesses, both
large and small, wanting to provide employees the benefits of Internet
e-mail without the temptations of full Internet connectivity
* FirstClass Systems, offering a range of computer-based training,
with over 700 instructional packages
* the convergence of wireless telecommunications and computing was
demonstrated by the presence on the show floor of interesting booths
from
BC Tel Mobility, Microcell/Fido, and Cantel Wireless
* OpenRoad Communications, a division of Synergy Computer, focusing
on Web and Java development
* Dominion Blue Reprographics demonstrating colour printing, including
colour lasers, large format BubbleJet prints, and other plotting,
printing,
and scanning technologies
* Three local companies offering products aimed at stemming theft of
portable (and other) computers: Burnaby-based bluVenom offers what they
describe as 'the first intelligent anti-theft device'. It locks
directly
into a floppy or printer port. Vancouver's Absolute Software makes
CompuTrace,
which automatically signals your computer's location to a monitoring
center.
And Maple Ridge company, Barracuda Security Devices offers a system
that
includes 120 dB alarms and an optional indelible dye capsule.
* Downtown Vancouver's The Media showing off a multi-screen
presentation
of their multimedia and Website designs that have been created for
clients
ranging from BC Telecom to the Clayquot Wilderness Resort
* Other local exhibitors covered the gamut from office furniture
dealers
to inkjet cartridge reinkers to the BC Science Council's Computers for
Schools Project, to of course, our very own Computer Paper/Computer
Player
booth.
However, equally interesting to me were the Vancouver
companies who
weren't present... these included some of the region's biggest
technology
developers, such as Maximizer Software, Seagate Software, Pivotal
Systems,
ProLogic, MacDonald-Detweiller, and Glenayre, as well as most of the
large
number of small local companies producing innovative solutions in
software,
multimedia, and the Internet. It would be nice next year, to see a real
effort to showcase local technology providers in BC's biggest computer
show.