Computex Taipei 2008 Again Lives Up to Its World's Second-biggest Reputation

The five-day Computex Taipei 2008, which wrapped up on June 7, is estimated to have generated for the 1,725 exhibitors some US$20 billion in business and, again set record turnouts-proving its almost magical ability to attract global buyers.

This year, the information technology and communications (ICT) trade fair, the world's second largest of its kind in terms of the volume of exhibitors and visitors as well as the area of the venues, attracted 1,725 exhibitors to showcase their latest products and technologies in 4,500 booths. To accommodate the unprecedented number of booths, the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) run by the semi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), for the first time, opened all four of its halls, including the newly opened Nangan exhibition hall, located in a nearby industrial suburb of Taipei.

TAITRA and the Taipei Computer Association (TCA) say that the floorage of the venue at Computex Taipei 2008 increased 53% relative to last year's show. A total of 106,517 visitors attended the fair this year, of which 34,685 are foreign buyers, around 5% more than last year's 33,027 and setting a new high.

American visitors comprised the largest buyer group, followed by their counterparts from Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, India, and Russia in descending order. TCA executives say that the increase in Asian buyers this year suggest that Asia may be the hotbed of the global IT industry and market, with emerging economies as mainland China, India and Russia generating robust demands for information-technology products, hence driving the sector forward.

TCA executives say that Computex Taipei is more than a trade fair but an important "edu-commercial" platform for the global ICT sector to keep each other updated with the latest information on technological products and services.

This year, WING, the convenient acronym combining WiMAX, ICT Crossover, New Generation NB and Green IT, is the one-size-fits-all technological theme for Computex Taipei.

Zhang Li, TCA's deputy secretary, says WING also figuratively implies cross-industrial energy, cooperation and opportunities-the taking under its wings increasingly more exhibitors from a wider cross-section of sectors, showing more marketable products and services offered by suppliers who tap the synergy between the IT and communication sectors in Taiwan.

WiMAX Theme

To highlight the WiMAX theme at the show, the organizers installed the Wireless Wideband Pavilion for the exhibitors in Hall 1 and held the WiMAX Expo Taipei in a nearby hall, in which Nokia, Motorola, Fujitsu, Acer, Global Mobile, Tatung, First International Communication and Vaster Cable set up major displays.

As part of its effort to help foster the island's WiMAX sector, TCA, Li says, has been working on a three-year project, which got off the ground with the formation of the Consortium of Mobile Broadband (CMB) on April 15, consisting of Global Mobile, Tatung, FiTel, Vaster Cable and TCA.

TCA Chairman J.T. Wang stressed at the CMB's founding ceremonies that WiMAX is a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of broadband access over the last-mile that is open to the world, which will generate lucrative opportunities for ICT suppliers. He hoped the collaboration between the island's manufacturers and government, together with the highly-promoted rollouts of WiMAX products at Computex Taipei this year, would take another step to build Taiwan into the "WiMAX Island" globally.

ICT Crossover Products

The show organizers also installed a pavilion for ICT Crossover products at Computex Taipei to highlight the trend for ICT-product manufacturers to branch out from the PC sector into embedded systems, medical electronics, portable navigation devices (PNDs), and automotive electronics fields.

Driven by varying demands for notebook computers in a society where the wealth gap continues to widen, computer manufacturers including Acer, Asustek, Elitegroup Computer, Micro Star, and First International Computer, as well as chip vendors as Intel, Silicon Integrated Systems, Nvidia and VIA Technologies, are exhibiting next-generation notebook computers such as ultra mobile PC (UMPC), mobile Internet device (MID), and ultra-thin models.

Going green is obviously proving to be more than being politically-correct but also good for business: Eco-friendliness is another theme at Computex Taipei, which offered more energy-efficient chips, motherboards, computer peripherals, consumer and automotive electronics, as well as photovoltaic electronics, LEDs and a variety of products boasting energy-conservation and emission-reduction merits.

Statistics released by the fair organizers show that communications products dominated by 3G and WiMAX equipment, industrial computers, mobile devices/UMPC, touch screen and green IT products made up the largest proportion on buyers' procurement list this year, which, TCA executives say, proved that the WING theme was pointed in the right direction.

ICT Heavyweights

Computex Taipei was a stage for the leading ICT heavyweights in Taiwan, including Hon Hai, Acer, Asustek, GigaByte, MSI, and ECS, alongside which were foreign peers as Intel, AMD, Microsoft, Hitachi, Fujitsu and Panasonic, all of whom debuted various products.

Intel chose to, on the opening day, launch its energy-saving Atom processor and a series of Atom-compatible chipsets for low-priced computers, mobile Internet devices (MID) and ultra mobile personal computers (UMPC), setting the tone for low-priced PCs as the dominant product at this show. The Low Price Pavilion was installed to display budget-priced PCs that stress form more than functionality.

Spate of Budget PCs

Asustek's Eee PC, for instance, is a major star among low-priced PCs serving users demanding more style than function with its variety of specifications. Everex recently introduced the CloudBook CE family to challenge the Eee PC, by offering larger storage capacity at 30 gigabite.

Trying to catch up from behind, Acer plans to roll out its version of budget-priced PC, which will come with an 8.9-inch screen and Windows or Linux OS, with the firm reportedly to buy one million Atom processors for such product.

Gigabyte also displayed its family of popular-priced PC: the Diamondville comes with a seven-inch screen and is priced even lower than generic PCs now being sold.

Micro-Star International launched its low-priced model-the Wind, powered by the Atom CPU, equipped with 1.0Gb memory and switchable storage media whether backed by a traditional 2.5-inch hard-disk drive or a rugged solid-state drive, with the package operable on Linux or Windows. Its low-priced notebook aside, the company also promoted the Eee DT, its budget-priced desktop PC that comes with 17-inch LCD screen and goes for more than US$300.

Computex Taipei saw Asustek introduce its second generation Eee PC, labeled Eee PC 900 and comes with an 8.9-inch touch screen, an 8Gb or 12Gb solid-state drive and is priced at US$500.

Trying not to be completely upstaged by Intel, AMD announced at the show a new NB platform codenamed Puma, as well as disclosing heavyweight manufacturers like Toshiba, NEC, Fujitsu and Acer had joined its camp.

Green Everywhere

Clearly the IT sector is fully aware of the urgency to be eco-friendly, as the products shown at Computex Taipei were not short on green features. In the Green IT zone, Foxconn Technology Group demonstrated a desktop computer case completely made of corn-based material, which is fully biodegradable. Also the company offered other green products: its "Green On Demand" technology saves up to a claimed 50% in energy, while its "Green Power Saving" technology cuts up to 94% in energy use when a PC is in hibernation mode.

Best Choice Awards

The show organizers set up two pavilions to highlight the 30 products honored by Computex Taipei with the Best Choice awards. Among the winning products were Asustek Computer's ASUS Desktop ARES CG6155, Micro-Star International's GX620 notebook computer, GlobalSat Technology's portable navigation device, E-Ten Information's Glofish DX900 Dual MSI Pocket PC Phone, Netstor Technology's External Data Storage system, Infortrend Technology's EnoStor B12F-R1430 RAID Subsystem, Gigabyte Technology's Glee Cube IPTV Box, Korenix Technology's Industrial Networking Computer, Colleveo's GoFinger Touch Screen, and DT Research's WebDT Mobile Tablet computer.

WiMAX ExpoTaipei

The concurrently held 2008 WiMAX ExpoTaipei, which saw 60 exhibitors showcase their latest wireless technologies in 250 booths in Hall 2, is the world's largest fair dedicated to WiMAX technology, underlining Computex Taipei's role to help build Taiwan into the world's "WiMAX Island."

Promoting and building up WiMAX technologies and related sectors is part of the government's "Mobile Taiwan" project, which aims to build seamless island-wide wireless broadband connectivity, especially across the last-mile, for Internet access and mobile communications for a wide range of handheld devices as cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), as well as notebook computers.

On-the-go WiMAX Demo

To show the quality of wireless connectivity via WiMAX technology, the WiMAX show organizer, TCA, gave visitors chances to personally try accessing the Internet on shuttle buses-by supplying Acer and Asustek notebook computers embedded with WiMAX modules.

The TCA says that WiMAX will again be a theme at Computex Taipei 2009, which is slated to take place June 2-6.