IT roadshow Connect 2004 begins in Chennai

Wednesday, 22 September 2004, 19:30 IST
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CHENNAI: Seven international delegations and more than 100 Indian exhibitors feature in Connect 2004, the fourth edition of Tamil Nadu's biggest annual ICT event that opened here Wednesday. The four-day show is jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Tamil Nadu government. Among the sponsors are TCS, IBM, Cognizent Technologies, Standard Chartered Bank and the Taj Group of Hotels, all of whom have a big presence in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu's IT sector is worth 80 billion and "Chennai is the only city in the country where all important companies have a presence", Connect 2004 chairman S. Mahalingam, a TCS official, said at the opening of the meet. CII Tamil Nadu chairperson T.T. Ashok pointed out that Comibatore, Tamil Nadu's second city "is a happening thing" in the IT sector. With the IT enabled industry growing rapidly in this southern state, CII officials noted that from just 60 exhibitors at Connect 2001, the first event, Connect 2002 had 500 corporate houses and 80 exhibitors participating and 40,000 visitors. In 2004, 1.4 million sq. ft. of space has been booked for the show and more than 100 exhibitors are showcasing their products and skills in ICT technology solutions. Delegations from Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Dubai and Korea are attending. Among the states participating are West Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Pondicherry and Orissa. Over 70 industry leaders and policy makers from India and other countries will addressing various seminars to be held during the event, where more than 60,000 visitors, including 10,000 business visitors, are expected in the next four days. State-of-the-art technologies, products, solutions and services in the ICT sector, enterprise applications, solutions from small and medium businesses communication services in areas like telecom, broadband leased lines, ISDN, VOIP, IVRS VPN and the like are being demonstrated. For the first time, Connect features concept zones covering interactive product and equipment demonstrations.
Source: IANS