This year’s Telecom World show may not be as big or influential as previous ones, but the event is still a good personal networking opportunity for experts in the telecommunications industry.The weeklong conference and exhibition, which opens Monday in Hong Kong for the first time, is the world’s largest public networking event. But the show, hosted every three years by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations agency, has clearly gone through some turbulent times, mirroring the industry it represents.European equipment manufacturers such as Siemens, which once dominated exhibition halls with expansive multimillion-dollar booths, have been pushed aside by aggressive Asian newcomers such as Huawei Technologies.But it’s not only Asian competitors that have made life tough for traditional telephone equipment vendors such as Alcatel and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson. It’s also competition from makers of Internet systems, notably Cisco Systems, which have helped build the first-generation IP networks and are busy deploying the next-generation networks. Add to that the explosive growth of new mobile phone networks, which in many countries have bumped traditional landline telephone service to the sidelines. And add on top of that innovative new wireless technologies such as WiMax, which could outmuscle cellular to become the preferred next-generation mobility system, so-called 4G (fourth-generation) technology. So there’s plenty to talk about, and numerous industry executives are on board to present their views of the future in a number of forums, including Masao Nakamura, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of NTT DoCoMo; John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco; and Edward Zander, chairman and CEO of Motorola.Organizers expect up to 57,000 visitors to attend Telecom World 2006, between Dec. 4 and 8, compared to the 102,000 visitors who attended the last Telecom World show, held in Geneva in 2003. The ITU expects 60 percent of visitors at this year’s show to come from Asia and the Middle East.“The ITU event may be smaller than events in the past, but it’s still a good venue for personal networking,” said Tim Dillon, senior research director at Current Analysis. “My calendar is completely full of appointments, if that means anything.”-John Blau, IDG News Service (Dusseldorf Bureau)Related Links: Hong Kong Preps for Smaller ITU Event Turkey ITU Meeting to Tackle Key Internet IssuesCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe