Reflections from Comdex

Hey, it's Comdex, I told myself. It's a saying and a theme that I kept repeating to myself, my co-workers and industry colleagues over the next few four days.

Like many people at the legendary trade show, I suspect, this gastrointestinally-challenged man was mostly concerned with free food and other perks that come with an IT conference or trade show. And like many people at Comdex, he consumed too much too quickly and without discrimination.

Me, well, that's another story. I've had time to digest--the food, the sights, the marketing speak, the glitz, the bad breath, and even some great technology. I gave myself some much-needed room to reflect. Now, sitting in an abnormally low-priced hotel room off The Strip in Las Vegas, I have some thoughts I'd like to share in chronological order for your convenience.

The previously mentioned panel was the media preview that precedes the annual Bill Gates opening keynote address at Comdex. Fredric Rose, chairman and CEO of Key3Media Group, Comdex's parent company, took the stage to introduce the panel and he was clearly under duress. Rosen's company has been hit with big losses recently, leading some to speculate that Key3Media might file for bankruptcy and that this Fall 2002 Comdex may be the last.

Rosen expressed his displeasure with such reports and speculation and criticized some members of the media. "I'm proud of this show," he declared defiantly. He contended that every major technology company is in Las Vegas this week, and he's right. Even companies such as IBM, who hasn't been on the trade show floor or taken an active role in the event for years, still came to Vegas and set up shop for a few days in some of the luxurious penthouse suites on The Strip. You could argue that Rosen has as tough a job as anyone in the industry. Few companies have suffered as severe a drop off in customers as Comdex. Still, the show attracted about 100,000 attendees this year, which is about the same as last year, and that's an achievement in this economy.

Andy Neff, senior managing director at Bear, Stearns and Company, said during the panel discussion that he's seen more technology advances in the last year than in the previous seven years. "Silicon Valley has gone back to its roots, which is innovation," Neff argued. I agree. Last year, few meetings and booth visits yielded anything remotely valuable for me. This year, however, it was clear on the first full day of the show that many companies that decided to come to the show truly had something to say. If they didn't, they wouldn't have spent the money in such a tight spending environment. More on some of those companies later.

The Bill Gates keynote was as expected. Gates, the chairman and chief software architect at Microsoft, promoted the tablet PC model and his company's new Windows XP Tablet PC edition, just as he did last year. Still not sold on it. Also disappointing was the scant time spent discussing the oft-delayed Windows .Net Server 2003, which is scheduled for an April launch next year. Gates did introduce a couple of new applications, Xdocs and OneNote, for the upcoming new version of Microsoft Office that looked promising. Still, the best part of the lengthy keynote was once again the clever, ultra-funny video skit. Can't decide which is funnier--Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer as "Monekyboy" last year or seeing Sean "P. Diddy" Combs work MS-Dos into a rap song in a "Behind the Music" spoof this year.

Speaking of Ballmer, if this guy isn't the most energetic soul in the industry, I don't know who is. At a special tablet PC reception at a posh restaurant at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino following the keynote, his enthusiasm was infectious. Both Ballmer and Gates mingled with journalists and other guests at the reception, and while Gates was horded around like a rock star, Ballmer, who's officially the Dick Vitale of the IT industry, had the biggest impact on me. The blonde ladies rapelling up and down a glass-enclosed three-story wine rack in the middle of the restaurant were a close second.

A thought occurred to me as I sat in the keynote address hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center the next morning. Waiting for the Hewlett-Packard CEO and chairman to take the stage for the first keynote of the day, I recalled last year's show and the impressive array of industry leaders that spoke. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Sony president and COO Kunitake Ando (along with "Spiderman" stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst), eBay CEO Meg Whitman, EDS chief Dick Brown, and the incomparable Cisco Systems Chairman and CEO John Chambers all graced The Big Stage last year. This year, we have the embattled Carly Fiorina, who just saw her second in command jump to WorldCom (gulp!) and the embattled Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems' president, CEO and chairman, who also lost his second in command this year and has watched his company sink to an all new low on the stock market. And there was Hector Ruiz, who as president and CEO of AMD just laid off 15 percent of his employees last week. This year's roster just didn't have the same buzz.

Fiorina did exactly what she needed to do--remind the world why HP is a historic technology institution. The HP chief showed off some compelling case studies with customers such as DreamWorks Films, BMW, Coors Brewing Company and others. Fiorina also delivered an effective morale booster for both her company and her industry, reminding people of the power of technology. The timing couldn't have been better--HP just announced a strong quarter that saw progress in its sluggish server and PC business.

There were some drawbacks to Fiorina's address. While she said HP would be making investments in Linux, storage, molecular computing and virtualization technology, there were no new product previews or sneak peaks. In addition, Fiorina stayed away from PartnerOne, HP's new channel program which has created a stir with partners by replacing the popular Hard Deck policy. "We believe out partnerships are our lifeblood," she said simply.

At this point, you're probably thinking this show was a waste of time, an expensive party teeming with more bad vibes than a struggling blackjack table. It wasn't. The exhibit hall was smaller this year, but that was a good thing. Last year, I saw too many elaborate booths with nothing but flashing lights, costumes, videos and gorgeous models who couldn't tell me the difference between Windows and Unix. The glitz factor seemed significantly lower this year, and some of the smaller booths with start-ups and younger companies were showing off some truly exciting technology and solutions.

I was surprised, though, to see few security technology vendors. Lots of storage, wireless, mobile and even server and processor technology on the trade show floor, but little security software or appliances. One company, however, did offer an interesting security solution. AirZip, a software startup based in Cupertino, Calif., specializing in secure delivery and management of documents, images and Web applications. The company's flagship product, AirZip Document Secure, allows the sender of a document to assign "access rules" that can restrict changes to the document as well as print, save and copy options using 256-bit AES encryption. AirZip's Website Secure product is a similar solution. A sender can even set a document to "expire" after its received in a matter of minutes. "Misson: Impossible," anyone?

This is the second product I've seen in the last six months that focuses on the issue of controlling and protecting content outside the enterprise (CYA Technologies offers similar technology). For enterprises looking to better manage and protect confidential information outside their own system, these solutions hold potential.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of "Reflections from Comdex"