As I type this, Comdex/Canada is making its annual mid-July appearance at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre — only there’s a difference this year.
After testing the waters with an expanded networking focus and feature area last summer, Comdex/Canada decided the time was right to bring its NetWorld+Interop trade show to town. (Our full coverage of Comdex/Canada ’99 will appear next issue.)
Having a separate NetWorld+Interop show floor in the convention centre’s south hall is designed to let networking professionals find the technology information pertinent to them, without having to dodge around the casual-observer consumer crowd drawn in off the street by the latest in image scanners or CD-R equipment.
Problem is, most of the major network hardware manufacturers aren’t on-hand this year to tell net managers about their latest and greatest products. Cabletron and 3Com are exhibiting at the show, but Cisco, Nortel Networks and Lucent are absent (although Lucent does have a presence in its Ascend Communications subsidiary’s booth).
And while NOS vendors Microsoft and Novell are present at the show, network management software specialists Computer Associates and Tivoli are nowhere to be seen.
A trade show that promises to deliver value to networking professionals needs to deliver the exhibitors that provide that value.
And so I come to Network World ~ Live!
By now, you may have noticed the ads we’ve been running for the last few issues announcing Network World Canada’s Network World ~ Live! conference and exhibition, scheduled to run Oct. 25 to 27 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Think Network World Canada, only more interactive.
The idea behind our trade show is to allow you, the networking professional, a chance to have some one-on-one with your peers, plus the vendors who provide the solutions that keep your networks running.
And you can expect the major vendors to be there.
To get more information on Network World ~ Live!, visit www.networkworldlive.com and subscribe to our Nothin’ but Net e-mail newsletter. We’ll send you regular updates on the conference session schedule and exhibitor list. (Don’t worry, your subscriber information will be kept strictly confidential and we’ll only use your e-mail address to send you information about the show.)
While you’re subscribing to the newsletter, you’ll be asked to help tailor the show’s conference program to your needs, by answering a few questions about “what keeps you up at night?” and telling us what networking topics, products and services you’re most interested to hear about at the show.
We want to make sure Network World ~ Live! delivers information that’s relevant to you. We can’t do much better than that.
Oh, did I mention the show’s conference sessions and seminars are free?
E-mail your comments to linda_stuart@lti.on.ca