29.10.2007
The 7th InfoCom exhibition first became a true industry show. It is even arguable that it has beaten its old contender SviazExpocomm.

InfoCom changed greatly this year. A near-ministry show, as it was in its early days, where the exponents demonstrated loyalty rather than new products and services, turned into a significant event in the ICT sector. Top-managers of many participating companies spent more than one day at their stands and the event matched the best world industry shows for the number of loud and important statements.

Organization of the exhibition was excellent, with a free hot line starting from 8-800, lists of participants and exponents’ news available on the website and free printed catalogues. InfoCom gave up the old format of many regional exhibitions and chose only one partner region Krasnodar.

This year the biggest world ICT vendors participated in InfoCom: Alcatel-Lucent, APC-MGE, Avaya, Barco, Cisco, Ericsson, HP, Huawei, IBM, IskraUralTel, Italtel, Motorola, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Rittal, Rohde & Schwarz, VocalTec, ZTE and the British operator BT. Many Russian blue chips were present too including Sviazinvest, Rostelecom, Central Telegraph, Sistema, Komstar-OTC, MUTN, Skylink, MTT, Sitronix, the concern “RTI Systems”, research institute Voskhod, Gazkom, GlobalTel, Intersputnik, Kosmicheskaya sviaz, MegaFon, Moskovsky Teleport, Russian Post, RTComm.ru and Synterra, big integrators AMT Group, CTI, Klassika, CompuLink, KraftWay, research institute Giprosvyaz, Leningrad Radio Reseach and Development Institute, Leningrad Branch Scientific Research Institute of Communication, research institute Radio and other. Stands of more than 30 Chinese firms paving their way to Russian and European markets made up the Chinese pavilion. Total of 259 companies participated in InfoCom 2007 and further 40 firms exhibited at the regional exposition in Krasnodar. Total exhibition space exceeded 20 000 square meters in Moscow alone.

For the first time the professional company Formika has taken charge of organizing the exhibition and it has given InfoCom 2007 a new look of a large-scale industry show. A lot of statements and forecasts have been made, with the ICT Minister Leonid Reiman declared that the capacity of the ICT market would grow up to one billion rubles by the end of 2007. In Krasnodar Alexander Andreev, general director of the Southern Telecommunication Company informed about plans to appropriate approx. 5 milliards rubles per year to the development of infocommunications in Sochi where 2014 Olympic Games will be held. The RF Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov who visited the exhibition at the first day proposed to use Russian digital technologies and global navigation satellite system GLONASS to coordinate construction of the state border facilities. Rostelecom informed about plans to win 30% of the Russian trunk Internet market by 2010 and Skylink promised to invest approx. $10 millions to setting up GSM network in all regions where it will be granted a license.

Within the framework of InfoCom 2007, MTS and Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company used 3G network technology to perform test broadcasting of a live transmission by the Russian informational TV channel Vesti. Also at the opening of the exhibition Leonid Reiman made a video call in 3G networks to St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko.

At InfoCom 2007, the managing company Sistema Telecom became a thing of the past.
Once the company and all its subsidiaries occupied the whole pavilion at Sviaz-Expocomm but in 2007 it moved to InfoCom. It is true that the company didn’t last till this day as starting from October 1 it became a business division within Sistema JSFC. At InfoCom 2007 Sistema Telecom’s logo (an egg against the silver background) was one of Sistema JSFC’s subsidiaries logos arranged in a row (see the photo).

The only notable drawback of the event was a troublesome getting to a place. The IEC Crocus Expo where InfoCom is traditionally held could be heavily reached by auto due to huge traffic jam at Volokolamskoe shosse.

The situation got even more complicated after another exhibition Cosmetic and Household Ingredients had opened at Crocus Expo. It attracted thousands of visitors (mainly young females) who always formed a big queue to buses and marshrootkas at the bus stop located at metro station Schukinskaya. If InfoCom moves to another exhibition area closer to the Moscow center it will safely be out of reach of the competitors.
Link:  http://www.comnews.ru/index.cfm?id=33257
Source:  ComNews