A total of 1,547 exhibiting companies from fifty-three countries/regions exhibited the latest technologies of the ICT industry

The 19th CommunicAsia, held between June 17-20, 2008 reflected the synergistic trend in the infocomm and digital media industries. The event showcased the full spread of convergent technologies and applications from various industry leaders that intend to enhance enterprises' mobility and users' lifestyle.

“Today's information, communications and media technologies, and business landscapes are changing at an exponential rate. Each year brings new products, services, and devices that we could have hardly imagined a few years ago. For this reason, CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia have become increasingly relevant and important, serving as key platforms for the industry to meet, network, and get a hands-on experience” said Stephen Tan, chief executive, Singapore Exhibition Services.

CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia, covering eight halls in the Singapore Expo, together witnessed around 68,000 visitors. Also, the usual four-day CommunicAsia Summit got expanded. This year, the event consisted of three two-day streams and five one-day forums.

Under CEO perspectives on 'Digital Content and Services', the topics discussed were bandwidth crunch in Asia, and various options for wireless broadband. Also discussed at the event was operators' perspective on mobile broadband, IMS empowering broadband networks, and wireless broadband for rural areas. There was also a panel discussion on how broadband has evolved from mere bandwidth to content.

LG's stall at CommunicAsia

At the main expo, leading companies showcased technologies ranged from 3G/HSDPA, WiMax/LTE, broadband, fixed mobile convergence (FMC), fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), next generation networks (NGN), IP technology, IPTV, mobile entertainment, and satellite and security. Broadcasting-to-handheld, digital media asset management, immersive technology, HD technology, IPTV, mobile entertainment, and professional audio technology were key attractions at BroadcastAsia2008.

Huawei Technologies, whose contract sales for Asia Pacific (excluding China) rose to $2.5 bn in 2007, up from $2 bn from the previous year, focused on all IP-based FMC solutions this year. The company showcased its environmentally friendly fourth generation base station (BTS), which is a GSM/UMTS/CDMA/WiMax/LTE multi-mode platform base station. In addition, the company revealed several applications over its LTE system, including data downloading and viewing high-definition TV over the network.

Huawei showcased a complete WiMax ecosystem covering network solution, applications, and terminals. It shared that it expects Asia Pacific contract sales (excluding China) to reach $3.9 bn in 2008, as more telecom operators across Apac step up with network transformation and mobile network expansion from 2G to 3G and 3.5G.

Dialogic, who participated for the first time in CommunicAsia last year, had eight partners who showcased video, voice, and IP applications on the Dialogic platform. Two of their partners launched and showcased their video applications, which included video dating and banking, as well as video yellow pages. “A lot of visitors at our booth were curious and interested in the showcased applications. These video applications can be showcased as soon as 3G is ready for deployment in India,” says Calise Goh, marketing manager, Dialogic Singapore. The company is confident about the leads generated.

Samsung and LG were the two leading handset manufacturers present at CommunicAsia. Nokia and Sony Ericsson were conspicuous by their absense	One of the popular stalls at CA, Singapore

Another key highlight of CommunicAsia 2008, was that it acted as a platform where various established brands showcased their mobile phones, strongly believed to be at par with iPhone. Some of these new phones showing superiority against the iPhone were, Samsung Electronics, Omnia, and Garmin's Nuvifone.

Omnia, equipped with 3.2'' touchscreen, has a minimalist design just like the iPhone, and a touchscreen GPS navigation. On the other hand, Garmin, known as a global positioning system (GPS) equipment producer treated visitors' eyes with its Nuvifone. Though it looks like a iPhone, Garmin officially claims that Nuvifone is not an iPhone competitor. They rather bank on its excellent GPS ability and would prefer to be referred as a navigation phone.

Also, standing tall next to Samsung was LG Electronics, who took this as an opportunity to showcase its new family member in the mobile phone category. Like last year it showcased Viewty, this year the company unveiled Secret, a third-generation Black Label series.

The prominent names missing this year were Sony Ericsson and Nokia. Though, Sony Ericsson separately conducted some media launches, it did not have any stall at the expo. On the other hand, Nokia was busy with its own event 'Connexion', conducted in Singapore.

It is known that satellite phones started losing market at the hands of sleek and slim handsets. But, the two new satellite models from Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications, a satellite communication company, were actually pocket-size unlike the regular huge and heavy satellite phones.

Also, in this year's CommunicAsia, several companies participated for the first time. Notable debutants were Navteq, Sandisk, SK Telesys, local player Sirius Multimedia (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jurong Technologies), TeleAtlas, and Yahoo! Katie Lee, spokesperson, RIM Asia Pacific said, “This is the second year RIM is participating; however this is the first year RIM has its own booth at CommunicAsia, with the theme Life On BlackBerry.” Speaking about the overall event CommunicAsia2008, she said, “Overall, there was a good response from the consumers who stopped by our booth. We are committed to our efforts in the Asia Pacific region and look forward to the next trade show.”At the show there were country specific pavilions as well, like the US Pavillion, the India Pavillion, etc. And, the Singapore Pavilion was the largest at the show.

Syeda Beenish Khalid
with inputs from Rachna Garga
vadmail@cybermedia.co.in
The author was hosted at Singapore