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Convergence showcases the telecom boom
ST Team
Monday, March 31, 2008
From19 to 21 March, Pragati Maidan in New Delhi was abuzz with the 16th edition of Convergence India 2008, an International exhibition and conference organized by Exhibitions India Group (EI). The conference provided the platform for addressing the opportunities, potentials, and challenges in the IT, telecom, mobilie, broadcast, cable, and other satellite based communications channels and the information security segments. It turned out to be a grand success with more than 20,000 technology savvy participants attending the event.

Siddharth Behurua, secretary, department of telecommunications (DoT) inaugurated the event. He noted that the broadband is a key area where the country needs to replicate the success of wireless. Due to innovations the mobile and communication technologies have now started entering the lives of the rural poor. The country is set to become the major technology market in the world. RSP Sinha, CMD, MTNL, who was present as a guest of honor said that increased broadband penetration would create enormous opportunities. This would eventually translate into a robust overall economic growth of the country.
Prem Behl, Chairman of EI Group, stated that international players — who comprised 50 percent of the participants at the event have started viewing India as a base for their global markets, which is a testimony for the increased interest of global players in India.
M N Prabhakar, Member, TRAI, noted that while urban teledensity has picked up, rural teledensity is still barely five percent and this means that the benefits of telecom are yet to reach the rural masses. In the session, Vince Pizzica, Senior VP, Solutions, Strategy and Marketing, Europe, Africa & Asia, Alcatel-Lucent, made an important observation: “Technology provides that unbreakable link to offer better services to the community. Using new technologies to improve the lives of a billion people at the bottom of the economic pyramid is a noble endeavor. It can also be a lucrative one.”

Dr. Kumar Sivarajan, CTO, Tejas Networks stressed that next generation transport network will be based on carrier Ethernet transport. This could happen through Carrier Ethernet over SDH and SONET or Carrier Ethernet over Packet Network.

Stefan Danielsson, Network Solutions Director at Ericsson said, “Full service broadband would be the future of our networks. There will be a multitude of devices like high-definition video camera, MP3 player, and game console that will be connected to the networks. By 2010, there will be 1.5 billion subscribers worldwide with broadband connectivity.”

The session on mobile convergence covered diverse topics from video applications for converged networks to cost effective solutions for mobile shelter cooling for the role of Wi-Fi in enabling a dynamic experience on dual mode handsets.

Wi-Fi Alliance Senior Marketing Manager Kelly Davis-Felner pointed out that the key drivers behind the growth of Wi-Fi market is the increased notebook penetration and rising broadband. While Wi-Fi enabled notebooks accounted for 21 percent of all PC sales in India, a 59 percent growth over last year, the government’s focus and introduction of backhaul technologies like Wi-Max have played a key role in increasing broadband penetration.

“Creating the business of infotainment” the Kocom Company’s Over Sales Manager Ko Chunho introduced the concept of a smart home during the session on “Creating the business of infotainment”. The home network system combines digital communication with imagery to provide a comprehensive security infrastructure for residential buildings and small and medium businesses.

The three-day Convergence India 2008 had 600 exhibitors from over 30 countries spread over six halls showcasing their products. The Smart Techie was one of the media partners of the event.

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