Where government, business, and science come together As the main annual tradeshow event for the entire world of IT and telecommunications, CeBIT sets the direction for the entire industry. When it comes to major IT business deals, the international significance of an ICT forum or achieving strong media impact, CeBIT is the undisputed number one. No other ICT tradeshow has the drawing power to attract 435,000 visitors -- over 100,000 of whom attend from abroad and 200,000 of whom represent top management echelons. At the past CeBIT, as many as 25,000 attendees came from Asia, alone. 'Whereas other trade fairs reflect specific market segments, CeBIT serves as a flagship show, setting the direction for the entire sector,' states Ernst Raue, Managing Board Member of Deutsche Messe AG. The attendance of some 200,000 top-level decisionmakers from around 100 different countries is enough in and of itself to establish CeBIT as the leading business event for the entire digital community. And CeBIT 2007 is currently experiencing the highest rate of registrations in years. The ranks of the companies who have submitted early registrations once again includes major players such as Asus, Brother, Elitegroup, Foxconn, Fujitsu-Siemens, Gigabyte, Hitachi, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft, NEC, Panasonic, Samsung, SAP, Sharp, Toshiba, Unitek and ZTE. Out of a total of over 6,000 exhibitors, more than 3,000 enterprises will come from outside Germany. 'Innovations require an international framework, one that transcends mere national boundaries,' explains Raue. From the largest mainframe down to the tiniest chip, from fully-loaded gaming computers to precision instruments, from smart phones to Ethernet -- CeBIT showcases everything in the way of IT, telecommunications and consumer electronics. And that's not all: CeBIT also sets new trends and demonstrates the way individual components function together as a unit to make our lives easier at work and play. Is the digital lifestyle transforming traditional business models How secure is IT in the network setting What kind of impact will Vista have on the business world and private end users You can find the answers to these and other questions at CeBIT, from 15 to 21 March in Hannover, Germany. According to a statistical survey of ICT decision-makers by German research institute GfK, CeBIT is the world's leading ICT event. The findings reveal that CeBIT is more than ten times better-known than its nearest competitor. New topics have also contributed to enhancing CeBIT's leading status. Key topics in 2007 include serviceoriented architecture (SOA), the newly designed CRM Arena, digital lifestyle themes as well as the greatly expanded 'Telematics and Navigation' display sector. The universal goal of the CeBIT industry meeting place is to promote the convergence of technology and content. Smart phones, for example, are no longer being used merely for entertainment purposes, but are also making increasing inroads into professional applications. And telematics and navigation systems are deployed not just in the transportation and logistics sphere, but to optimize production as well. All the leading providers with solutions that will define tomorrow's ICT markets are represented at CeBIT -- whether with their own dedicated company stand or in cooperation with other partners. Trailblazing innovations are currently emanating from the digital industry and therefore serve as the basis for the latest developments in consumer electronics. Samsung -- one of the major global players in ICT and consumer electronics -- has made a clear commitment to CeBIT. The company is planning a high-profile presentation at Digital Media in Hall 1 and at Samsung Telekom in Hall 26, where it has increased its display space by 100 percent. CeBIT brings together the leading lights from government, business and the research community. Thanks to their presence and participation at company stands and speaking events, these players constitute a worldwide ICT network that delivers the raw data for analysts and opinionmakers. And they are happy to converse with the public. The keynote speakers at next year's event are an important component of the tradeshow program, with Symantec's John Thompson as one. The opening-night speakers will consist of Siemens CEO Klaus Kleinfeld and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Retailers have CeBIT marked down as a regular date in their calendar since they can not only place their orders here, but also find out enough about the latest developments to carry them through the rest of the year. This has always been the case for IT and telecommunications retailers, but is also becoming increasingly true of CE retailers. Convergence affects not only technology, it also has an impact on the associated markets. Today's telecom retailers now also sell cameras, photo dealers also sell printers and IT resellers also sell telephones. CeBIT is the place where they all decide what to sell in the future.