Big Names Hit CeBIT

IBM. Microsoft. Cisco. For many in the IT industry, just mentioning these familiar names inspires a warm, cozy feeling, like curling up with a mug of hot cocoa on a frigid afternoon and watching the snow fall. Several of the industry's biggest guns were at CeBIT 2008 to plant a stake in the ground and let everyone know it is they who lead the way. Everything Channel strolled around more than 20 exhibit halls, searching for familiar names and discovering what messages they brought to this year's event. Here's what we found.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Netgear had a huge presence at CeBIT on the strength of its House Of Solutions, where attendees could get a glimpse at the vendor's new families of next-generation Wireless-N networking solutions, ReadyNAS advanced network-attached storage solutions, built-for-business ProSafe switches, security and wireless solutions, wired and wireless network bridges and extenders, and carrier-grade broadband gateways.

Linksys, now known as 'Linksys By Cisco,' was touting its Linksys EasyLink Advisor (LELA), a free application that makes it easy for users to set up, view, manage, and repair their networks.

Linksys By Cisco also had its heavier artillery on display at CeBIT, wowing conference attendees with its powerful Connected Office solutions for small and medium size businesses.

Avaya's booth was buzzing with excitement, as attendees crowded around to learn more about the Basking Ridge, N.J. vendor's new Communication Manager software and Intelligent Customer Service Solutions.

Environmentally aware IT was a prominent theme at CeBIT 2008, and IBM's display area was one of the largest and more memorable at the show, not to mention greener than a cornfield in August.

A peek inside an IBM System z10 Enterprise Class Model mainframe. It almost looks like there's a rave going on in there.

At IBM's booth, attendees crowd around a booth demo that shows the superior energy efficiency of air to water when it comes to cooling data centers.

A German IBM rep gets hands-on in his attempts to impart the energy efficiencies and cost savings of IBM's data center infrastructure to a conference attendee.

Backed by a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, the "people-ready business" message that Microsoft launched in March 2006 seems to be sticking as company's ongoing corporate mantra.

Microsoft reps had their hands full at the vendor's CeBIT booth, where conference goers crammed in to see demos of Silverlight and assorted home entertainment technologies.

A Microsoft rep demonstrates how the magic of software can be used to improve the mobile computing experience.

SAP's CeBIT booth was directly across from Microsoft's -- given the re-emergence of speculation that Microsoft may be looking to acquire SAP, this could be seen as an ironic twist. Or not.

German Citrix reps dealt with a steady onslaught of visitors at CeBIT 2008, with many of them immediately blurting out questions about virtualization. Citrix also showed off GoToAssist Express, a new remote support solution designed to enable small businesses and professionals to provide instant, Web-based support to their customers.

Sun Microsystems built a data center on the CeBIT grounds that uses chips from Intel and energy from solar cells.

APC was talking about its new SurgeArrest product, a surge protector that saves electricity and protects home computer systems from damage.