10 Scenes From FOSE 2008

Now in its 32nd year, the FOSE Conference and Exposition is a meeting of more than 400 industry-leading manufacturers and solution providers, making it the world's largest government IT exposition. FOSE 2008 is being held in Washington, D.C., at the Washington Convention Center downtown, and runs from April 1-3. Here are some of the scenes that ChannelWeb saw on Day 1.

Pictured left, David Girourad, Google Enterprise vice president and general manager, provided this year's opening keynote address, where he highlighted the need for interoperability and declared cloud computing (the ability to remotely access offsite data centers at any time) as the wave of the future. "On the Web today with cloud computing a few people anywhere in the world can create a company that can compete with almost anybody, and it's incredibly cheap to do so," he told the audience.

Scott McNealy, chairman and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, brought some humor to the second keynote of the conference, opening with a list of top ten reasons he's thrilled to be in Washington, D.C. Number 5: "Being here makes me feel better about Sun's budgeting policies and practices."

He drew a big laugh (and some groans) for the top reason he's glad to be in the nation's capital: "You meet the nicest people at the Mayflower Hotel," he cracked, a reference to the location of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's ill-fated tryst with a prostitute.

Although the size of the Washington Convention Center makes it easy to get lost, at least the bright green installations at the two entrances to the Center's massive exhibition hall made one part of FOSE easy to find.

Vendors fill every corner of the exhibition floor. More than 100 new products are on display, and FOSE representatives estimate 16,000 attendees will flow through this space over the three-day span of the conference. This photo shows about half of the 500 exhibitors located on the exhibition hall floor.

Google Enterprise's Dan Israel demonstrates the benefits the Google Maps application can bring to the government, like Business.gov, the official business portal of the US government. Business.gov provides guides and resources that help small businesses -- Google Maps, Israel demonstrated, can help small business find resources in their area.

ChannelWeb counted three vehicles on the show floor, including this Hummer outfitted with Panasonic's Toughbook logos and camouflage. Inside, a Toughbook attached to a video camera allows the driver to monitor activity in front of the vehicle. As many government institutions require their equipment to function in a variety of rough environments, this was not the only vendor on the show floor interested in demonstrating their product's "toughness."

Unotron's waterproof, washable keyboards and mice are popular in hospitals and government healthcare facilities where easy disinfectant techniques, like dropping a keyboard into alcohol or bleach to sterilize it, are a daily necessity, said East Coast sales director Corey Steere. The company's SpillSeal technology keeps dust and water out, which deters any initial bacterial infection in the crevices of the keyboard. The newest model, the compact SK12 L, hits the market at the end of April.

While Panasonic's Hummer might garner more name brand recognition, the Cisco-outfitted "NERV" (Network Emergency Response Vehicle) could eat it for breakfast. NERV is a mobile communications vehicle that can act as a command center for your on-the-ground disaster management, as well as a central processing center for all the communications going on for that effort. Rick Herrington, Cisco's AS project manager, tactical operations support, said this vehicle's clone, based on the west coast, was used in the California wildfires of last year.

The inside of the NERV is packed with routers, radios, and Cisco's IPICS technology, which allows disparate radio systems to communicate with each other via IP translation, as well as TelePresence, video surveillance, Wi-Fi, satellite communications, and IP telephony on-board. NERV is fully operational and on call for the duration of the conference. "If Cisco is contacted and asked to respond, we're leaving the show," Herrington said. "I know how to open the [Convention's] doors."

Another rugged notebook, another creative display of the intensity it can handle. This Getac A790 has a full magnesium alloy case, a shock-mounted removable hard drive (which sensors can lock down if it detects the laptop in freefall) and, according to technical sales associate Joe Chernof, tougher than a Toughbook. "We've had guys come back from Iraq who've left it outside in 130 degree heat all day long," he said. "We had a guy come back with a bullet hole in one, but it still worked."