CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia maintains its position as the largest and most comprehensive infocomm and media event in Asia, featuring 1,923 exhibiting companies from 60 countries and regions from across the globe this year, despite the uncertain economic climate.  Industry professionals from across the Asia Pacific will get to experience the latest technologies and most innovative solutions. The exhibitions span 58,000 square metres of show floor, the equivalent of almost 12 football fields.

The shows see strong participation from national and regional groups, with pavilions from Belgium, Brunei Darussalam and Vietnam on show in CommunicAsia2009 for the first time and a new Belgium pavilion in BroadcastAsia2009.  Together with stalwart groups from Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and USA, there are a total of 34 group pavilions this year.

CommunicAsia remains the choice platform for product launches and announcements and international brands, including BlackBerry, Garmin ASUS, Globecast, Harmonic, Huawei, Intelsat, LG, NAVTEQ, Samsung, Yahoo! and ZTE will be making regional and worldwide launches at the show.  Within the iGov area, exhibitors such as Accenture, HP, IBM, Ministry of Finance Singapore, IDA and IDA International, NCS group and ST Electronics will showcase e-Government solutions such as healthcare, education, security, e-service delivery to citizens and businesses, and urban development.  Visitors can also look forward to exciting displays from market leaders like Conax, Canon, Digital Video Broadcasting, Fujinon, Google and Harris and Panasonic at BroadcastAsia.

Held concurrently with the exhibition, the four-day CommunicAsia2009 Summit focuses on infrastructure technologies and offers insights into how enterprises can leverage on them to increase profitability.  The Summit features a balance of business issues and technology topics and delegates can look forward to hearing from over 100 industry heavyweights.

A new inclusion this year is the Next Generation Broadband Forum which will discuss issues operators face as they seek to meet the increasing consumer demand for bandwidth connectivity.  One of the recent significant developments in the global broadband landscape is the emergence of national broadband networks as governments recognise the potential of infocomm technology as a driver of a country’s economic growth and competitiveness.

Also making a debut is Green Telecoms, which focuses on rolling out green networks and green data centres to achieve energy efficiency and improve business profitability.  Key industry topics in mobile and wireless technologies from HSPA to LTE to WiMAX will also be addressed, and the business challenges and opportunities explored.

At BroadcastAsia2009 International Conference, Obama presidential campaign’s external online director Scott Goodstein will speak on how his team effectively used interactive digital media such as mobile broadcasting and social networking communities to engage voters.  He will also discuss how industry players can bank on new media applications and create add-on opportunities to generate additional revenue streams for their broadcasting businesses.

The conference features a line-up of prominent industry speakers and professionals discussing the future of broadcasting, in areas of IPTV, New Media and Mobile Multimedia.  Delegates will also learn how forced reassessment and changes in the industry brought about by the downturn can be beneficial in the long run through more efficient and greener solutions.

CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia as well as various inter-government meetings, are part of the Infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX). imbX is Asia’s largest infocomm and media event, bringing together business leaders, industry professionals and thought leaders to showcase their latest innovations, network, exchange ideas and tap new markets opportunities.

CommunicAsia2009 and BroadcastAsia2009 are expected to feature about 2000 exhibiting companies from 65 countries and regions from across the globe, demonstrating the strong demand by companies to expand their footprint in Asia’s emerging markets and the importance of the annual exhibitions as networking and sourcing platforms for the global infocomm and media industries. The shows are set to return from 16-19 June 2009 at the Singapore Expo.

The infocomm industry’s strength is still evident despite the unpredictable conditions in the global economy. Infocomm sectors in many Asian countries are out-performing the rest of the global economy, representing significant opportunities here.

“The global gloom has accentuated the gleaming potential in Asia and increased the urgency in which international companies are moving into the continent,” said Victor Wong, project director at show organizer Singapore Exhibition Services. “CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia’s established reputation and repeated ability to attract trade professionals from across the Asia Pacific region makes the shows the first choice for exhibiting companies, especially in the current environment of tighter budgets.” Visitors can look forward to exciting displays from market leaders like Blackberry, Google, Harris, Huawei, LG, Navteq, Samsung, Yahoo! and ZTE.

As Web 2.0 technlogies take over the enterprise sector across Asia this year in the goal to streamline customer service and spending, this same development will be mirrored in the Philippines. IDC expects worldwide interoperability for WiMAX in the Philippines to get back into the game in 2009. WiMAX and other fixed wireless subscriptions in the Philippines will skyrocket to $1 billion by 2013, seizing about 5% of the market from the current 1%. A recent Market Research report showed that PLDT‘s wireless broadband service revenues in the first half of 2008 rose by 50% year-on-year.

AS companies are turning to cutting edge technologies to meet the challenges posed by today’s tough economic climate, CommunicAsia2009 will focuse on the latest hot technologies for applications, solutions and hardware. These key techniques, which are already starting to have a huge impact on the way we live, work  and play, include IPTV, mobile entertainment, WiMAX, navigation and LBS, satellite, Femtocell, iGov, wireless technologies, Green IT and mobile Internet.

In response to the buzzing media industry development in Asia, BroadcastAsia2009 will again feature key technologies that draw huge interest and demand from the market. These include broadcast-to-handheld / mobile TV, digital media asset management, high-definition technology, PITV, mobile broadcasting and professional audio technology. Featured for the first time at BroadcastAsia2009 is digital signage which reflects the growing global demands of the retail, hospitality and entertainment industries for a dynamic medium to captivate their audiences. A form of electronic display that is installed in public spaces, digital signage is set to replace the conventional printed posters with state-of-the-art digital panels.

CommunicAsia, BroadcastAsia, CG Overdrive, as well as various inter-government meetings, are part of the Infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX). It brings together business leaders, companies and industry professionals to showcase their latest innovations, network, exchange ideas and tap new markets.