Attendees Pan Reborn Comdex

Computerworld - LAS VEGAS -- The promise was for a smaller, more IT-focused Comdex this year, with less emphasis on gadgets and glitz.
But on the show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center last week, the verdict from many attendees was that the show's organizer, MediaLive International Inc., still has a long way to go to restore Comdex's relevance to corporate IT.
A core problem cited by many attendees was the number of large IT vendors that were conspicuous for their absence. Aside from Microsoft Corp., Dell Inc., Computer Associates International Inc. and Siebel Systems Inc., top vendors serving the corporate IT market had only a peripheral presence or were absent altogether.
Jai Agrawal, senior project manager for enterprise applications and information services at Boeing Satellite Systems Inc. in Los Angeles, said the smaller show's lack of key vendors such as Oracle Corp. meant that part of his mission -- identifying new technologies and learning how they might be adapted and integrated within his company -- couldn't be accomplished.
"Typically, the big players are innovators," Agrawal said. "They bring out the newest and greatest stuff. If they're not here, then they know better than we do not to come. Next year, I don't think I will come back."
James Blaine, a United Auto Workers International union representative assigned to the information systems department at UAW-General Motors in Detroit and a five-time Comdex attendee, also expressed dissatisfaction with the show. "This used to be a one-stop shop" for information on technologies such as Linux, he said.
In past years, a multivendor Linux exhibit was housed in the nearby Sands Expo and Convention Center. But this year, the Sands isn't being used for exhibit space. "I can't get it all here anymore," Blaine said.
Blaine said he's undecided about whether he will return in the future. "It depends on what we need to get done at that time," he said. "I think I'd probably spend more time on the Internet [searching for relevant information] before coming back here."
Barton Ricketts, a certified network engineer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, Calif., and a longtime Comdex attendee, said he came to the show this year to get information on deploying tablet PCs within the hospital to replace handheld devices.
Ricketts said he was able to find some products from Acer America Corp. and Fujitsu Computer Systems Corp., but he was disappointed that other vendors were absent on what has become a shrinking show floor. "The big companies aren't here," he said. "I told