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CeBIT2004: 'Convergence by Broadband' is the Key Word
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Tuesday, March 23, 2004
CeBIT2004, the world's largest exhibition for the information industry, got underway in Hannover, Germany from March 18. The pillars of the exhibition were "mobile communication," "digital home appliances," and "convergence by broadband" for various equipment.
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| (photo 1) Sony President Kunitake Ando gave keynote speech at the pre-opening party. | Prior to the opening of the exhibition, on the evening of March 17, a "pre-opening party" was held at Hannover Congress Centrum (HCC) with various guests, including the Germany's Prime Minister Gerhard Schroder and key people in the information industry from all over the world.
During the pre-opening party, Sony President Kunitake Ando took the platform as the first-ever Asian keynote speaker. Ando's speech centered on the expression "broadband convergence," and he introduced various imaginable situations in explaining that broadband would bring about significant transformations to the next generation of information systems, be it in business solutions or the utilization of consumer electronics.
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| (photo 2) Germany's Prime Minister Gerhard Schroder declared the start of the pre-opening party. | Ando mentioned in his speech that "being digital," "being wireless," and "being personal" would be the components of the "broadband convergence." "Being digital" refers to a fact that with the improvement of processors' performance and increase in available storage capacity, all kinds of processes will be digitalized at an overwhelming rate. E-commerce via the Internet symbolizes such a phenomenon. Notwithstanding the contribution by the Internet, the expansion of e-commerce owes a great deal to the development of component technology such as the enhancement of the individual processor's performance and facilitated availability of mass storage.
"Being wireless" refers to the advancement of mobile technology, including various solutions by mobile phones. It implies that utilizing mobile technology such as the wide range of third-generation cellular phone services, will expand the horizon of viable possibilities, which will in turn create a base for new solutions and services. "Being Personal" refers to permeation of a certain information equipment such as digital TVs into individual lives.
Ando suggested that they have now entered a new stage where these three components are converged by broadband, and they are ready to offer new solutions and services. As an example of feasible solutions and services as a result of the convergence, he mentioned distribution of contents of music and movies to mobile phones. "Broadband convergence will give rise to contents distribution services for on-demand and high-quality music/movies using mobile equipment. Broadband convergence will be a breakthrough for the development of related equipment," said Ando.
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| (photo 3) Bipedal locomotion robots "QRIO" danced and prompted their boss, Ando. | Acting as a curtain raiser for Ando's speech, bipedal locomotion robots "QRIO," developed by Sony, appeared on stage. Following their customary dance to some music, they introduced themselves in English and German, and then they prompted Ando to hit the stage in both languages. The audience simply loved it.
CeBIT2004 is held between March 18 and 24. With approximately 6,500 companies running booths, the exhibition expects more than 600,000 visitors
By: DocMemory
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