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CeBIT 2004 Day 1: Bigger Buzz Than Last Year

06:00 - Saturday 20 March 2004 by THG Reporting Team

1. A Sense Of Upswing: CeBIT 2004 In Hanover
2. Innovatek: Illuminated CPU Cooling Elements, Fancy Design Enclosures
3. 3Ware: The Escalade 9000 Series Vs. Raidcore
4. Asus: Going On The Offensive With New Models
5. Asus, Continued
6. DFI: Hardware For Individualists
7. FIC: Mini-PCs For Everyone!
8. FIC, Continued
9. Microsoft: Portable Media Center
10. MSI: PC Without A Ventilator
11. Promise: 8-Channel SATA
12. SiS: A Progressive Renewal
13. Motherboard Maker Soltek: The Special Treatment
14. TwinmOS
15. Aerocool: Extreme PC Modding
16. FSP Fortron: The First Power Supply For BTX Systems
17. Hyundai ImageQuest: Panels With 12 Milliseconds

18. Sirtec: Performance Display Right Below The Power Supply
19. Titan: Water Games
20. Avantech's Terminator C001
21. The First Big Tower For BTX Motherboards
22. Lighting Effects By Sharkoon
23. Shuttle's Stand At The Fair Is Just One Big, Hopping LAN Party
24. Xpider Enclosure By Chenbro
25. Innovation By Toshiba
26. SD-Card Viewer With 3.45" OLED Display
27. Privacy On The Notebook: All An Issue Of Perspective
28. Made In Germany: A Cigarette Vending Machine
29. Asus
30. Asus Motherboards
31. EPOX
32. ABIT
33. Leadtek
34. AOpen
35. Gigabyte

Hanover, the hometown of German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, can sigh in relief as CeBIT 2004 kicked off. Unlike the Germany's political leadership, CeBIT has sent some rather clear signals to the outside world. Spring like weather with pleasant morning temperatures provided a good setting for beleaguered CeBIT, still the world's largest IT fair.

Most fair visitors expressed optimism as they moved to the fair from their simple private quarters. According to initial reports, CeBIT is notching a 10 percent increase in visitor numbers compared to 2003. That, at least, appeared to be the bottom line as day 1 concluded. The kick-off, thus, also serves as a yardstick for the IT industry as a whole, which is moving out of its slump, according to business barometers. At the same time, there is nowhere near the abundance of new jobs as during the boom years, 1999 and 2000.

Talking security among colleagues: Ready for an emergency?

Gambling Without A Prize: One-hour WLAN Access.

Especially the media representatives had to battle with the usual shortcomings that are uncommon at the much smaller fairs, but not at CeBIT: Highly restricted Internet access via proxy server caused some disgruntled faces. In the run-up to CeBIT, the Messe AG had self-confidently proclaimed that 200 access points would ensure unlimited Internet fun.