Many suppliers at CeBIT will be showcasing integration
products - from combining voice and data, to easing the exchange of
information to seamless mobile communication
Microsoft
"Integrated innovation" is the main theme of Microsoft's
approach to CeBIT.
The company will be showcasing numerous applications that
interoperate seamlessly to help raise employee productivity.
Microsoft will be exhibiting new means of data exchange within the
Microsoft Office suite to help illustrate this.
"The most frequent demands from corporate customers involve the
need for innovative, integrated and flexible platforms. Unified
access to the internet, intranets, portals and databases through a
single user interface promises significant cost advantages and
market benefits," a Microsoft spokeswoman said.
Microsoft's mobile products will build on its previous CeBIT
shows, where mobile Tablet devices with similar power to a PC have
been showcased.
IBM
IBM is using CeBIT to continue pushing its on-demand computing
initiative - its version of utility computing - as well as a series
of industry-specific technologies, in areas such as retail,
financial services, the public sector and telecoms.
The company will also be revealing the latest updates to its
product portfolio, including product lifecycle management,
Websphere middleware, DB2, Lotus and Tivoli.
IBM will be showcasing blue-sky technology including advanced
natural language under- standing for speech technology and
Webfountain, a web-scale data search and analysis platform that
extracts trends, patterns and relationships from unstructured
data.
SAP
SAP will use CeBIT to reveal details about the latest version of
its integration software package, Netweaver 2004, which has been in
development for the past year.
Michael Kleinemeier, SAP's president for Europe, the Middle East
and Africa, said, "Our CeBIT motto, 'experience integration', will
be mirrored by the announcements we are planning. One major focus
will be on the new version of SAP Netweaver.
"This integration and application platform at the heart of SAP's
future strategy will now be delivered as one complete product with
a synchronised stack of all technology components and new
functional enhancements."
The company will also update delegates on the latest
developments in its MySAP enterprise resource planning software and
specific applications for the public sector and small and
medium-sized businesses, Kleinemeier said.
"SMEs face similar challenges to large companies, such as the
need to increase business performance to keep up with the
competition and improve their collaboration with customers,
distributors, partners, suppliers, parent companies and
subsidiaries. Yet they have a special need for affordable and
easy-to-implement solutions and professional partners to support
them."
Nokia
Jorma Ollila, Nokia chairman and chief executive, said his
company would use CeBIT to develop the theme of convergence. "We
are moving towards two billion mobile subscribers," he said.
"In 1999, we were talking about a mobile information society
involving seamless services built around technologies such as GSM,
GPRS, Multimedia Messaging Service, 3G, wireless Lans, Bluetooth
and digital subscriber line (DSL).
"To reach two billion subscribers we need improved
standardisation and interoperability, revenue sharing among
operators and content providers and digital rights management. In
addition, we need the co-existence of [rival] brands."
Ollila believes that the industry has to pull together to
convince users it has learned from the mistakes of previous poorly
marketed campaigns for mobile data, particularly Wap, so that it
can build on the modest successes already seen in the take-up of
GPRS. This success will help the industry reach the next goal: the
widespread roll-out of 3G.
3G handsets from Nokia will be heavily promoted at CeBIT, along
with data services that can be integrated into corporate private
branch exchanges and mail servers to give users easy access to
e-mail, faxes and voicemail.
Lucent
Lucent Technologies will demonstrate its plans for enabling the
convergence of networks - broadband, voice, data and wireless - and
delivering communications across any application, any device and
any platform.
Pat Russo, chairman and chief executive at Lucent Technologies,
summed up what the networks industry is trying to get across to
users. "A key focus for CeBIT this year is how to evolve today's
networks so that service providers can deliver the services
customers want in a cost-effective way," she said.
"The answer to that question is convergence, but a much broader
understanding than we had considered in the past. Today it has to
encompass networks, technologies and services."
Cisco
Cisco's main theme at CeBIT will be about creating the
"intelligent information network, including driving greater
intelligence into our core platforms", a company spokesman
said.
"The network itself needs to evolve to address both today's, and
the future network application requirements of SMEs and large
enterprises," he added.
Security will be a major area covered by Cisco at the show,
following its recent alliance with IBM to closely integrate its
network products with the network management capabilities of Big
Blue's software suite. Cisco's "self-defending network" will be one
feature on its stand.
3Com
3Com, like other networking companies, will be launching
products at CeBIT to address the need of users to move to "hybrid"
networks as a step towards full IP-based networking. This will
allow users to take advantage of increased productivity and cost
savings.
Rob Coyne, 3Com's UK manager, said, "An increasing number of
enterprise customers will move from fragmented to hybrid networks
in 2004.
"Fragmented networks have disparate applications and
infrastructure, security appliances that are not consolidated to
offer easy and secure management and users limited by the reach of
wires.
"Hybrid networks include a mixture of IP-based convergence and
legacy systems in a secure multi-site and mobile environment."
Coyne said there were three main drivers for hybrid solutions:
converged voice/data solutions have reached maturity in terms of
quality, availability and reliability; the maintenance costs of
legacy systems can be reduced by new IP-based systems; and the
complexity of fragmented applications and complicated
infra-structures are limiting enterprises from achieving new
business objectives.
PeopleSoft
PeopleSoft will update users on its integration with ERP
supplier JD Edwards, which it bought last year.
The company will also announce tailored applications with
specific functionality for manufacturers, in particular the
automotive industry and medium-sized companies, as well as updates
to its PeopleSoft World product line.