Cebit 2001: The show must go on

As the morning mist rolled back across the chill German landscape, Hanover took a deep breath and prepared itself for the annual onslaught of technology professionals that comprises the world's largest IT trade show, Cebit 2001.

This year the hotels and guest houses of the typically quiet and peaceful town will be bursting at the seams, as an estimated 750,000 visitors of the anorak persuasion descend like an electronic army on the exhibition halls today.

Cebit has also set itself a record in its 15-year history, this time with 8106 companies from 60 countries exhibiting their wares in over 422,109 square metres of space.

The organisers predict a particular emphasis on mobile devices this year, with wireless devices and Bluetooth technology hogging the limelight.

But the opening day of the world's largest IT circus was overshadowed from the start by the slump in the technology market. Hewlett Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina, who opened the event, gave a gloomy speech warning that the slowdown "is now clearly spreading to other parts of the world", adding that she was "not optimistic about Europe's ability to withstand a slowdown".

But she acknowledged that the show must go on, as it is indeed "the world's largest and perhaps most chaotic IT trade show".