The results of the Svyaz-Expocomm-2002 exhibition.

Of course, the Svyaz-Expocomm exhibition is a celebration. And the Forum pavilion is the quintessence of the “show" on this holiday. Long-legged models handing out flyers of companies, incessant performances of artists on stands, loud music that can be heard even on the street, a sea of balloons, glitter, and original “enticing” ideas.

Race Communications was seriously out of the rut of the general noise of the pavilion, because the concept of the exposition, which runs through many years of participation in specialized exhibitions, differs from the “show options” of other companies. The company as a whole demonstrated really working solutions that are relevant at this point in time.

From the very first day of work at the exhibition, visitors to Sviaz-Expocomm-2002 paid great attention to the new Race Communications project - a multi-user distributed system for monitoring and controlling mobile objects (Locator system). The system implements the principle of separation of expensive resources and uses Web technologies, therefore it is much cheaper to install, easier to configure and operate than traditional dispatch systems. The system is designed to display the location of vehicles on a scalable vector map, transmit information about the speed and status of on-board sensors at a specified time interval or at the request of the dispatcher, and provide other services. The advantages of the system are also manifested in its accessibility to mobile users.

Stable interest was aroused by radio access solutions that give a significant gain in time when building a corporate network or communication system and allow solving problems in the absence or congestion of wired channels. I would like to emphasize that a wide range of equipment suppliers (Cisco, Alvarion, P-Com, Western Multiplex, etc.) favorably distinguishes Race Communications solutions for wireless access, providing a more individual approach to projects for subscribers with different tasks and requirements.

The ATM, illustrating the solution for connecting branches in areas with poor network infrastructure, was in itself quite an attractive and popular exhibit of the stand. The device demonstrated a radio connection using the X.25 over IP technology. However, an additional win-win lottery organized on it was an event that lifted the mood of visitors. For any card with a magnetic stripe, lottery participants received a “money bill” with the image of the prize and Race Communications symbols. Some of the players were so keen on the process that they used the entire stock of various plastic cards. Race Communications Employees we tried to ensure that all the guests of the stand who showed attention to the exposition received a charge of positive emotions and a useful, quite material acquisition.

In general, the part of the stand where the ATM was installed, a multimedia kiosk with a touch panel showing one of the possible applications of the company's Web solutions, was almost never empty. Throughout the exhibition, visitors actively asked questions, could feel the functionality and operability of solutions, see and try various equipment in operation.

One of the most popular solutions at the exhibition is the construction of video conferencing systems (VCS), security video surveillance, the use of Web cameras. There were seven cameras working both at the stand and outside it , which showed “pictures from the exhibition". Visitors could appreciate the ease of connection, configuration and software capabilities right at the stand. The variety of solutions presented from different VCS vendors and implemented methods of cross-viewing and camera control also attracted the attention of a large number of technical specialists.

During the exhibition , Race Communications technical specialists, talking with visitors, felt the keen interest of users in technologies, equipment and training in Cisco Systems certified courses (CCNA, CCNP), last mile solutions, services provided by the Race Telecom operator.

In general, the exhibition, despite the reduced number of visitors compared to last year and the abrupt transition of many companies to the “show version” of expositions, made a good impression. Of course, it was nice to see the increased number of companies in the communications industry, as well as thousands of guests of the exhibition, who managed to break through the crowd despite the traffic that has become a real scourge of the Expocentre, consider and find something useful for themselves on the Link-Expocomm-2002.

There are also different ways to treat the fact that technologies and equipment that have already become traditional or, say, quite expected, were demonstrated at the exhibition . Stabilization of the industry is an absolute boon, but the absence of some “loud” changes reduce attendance. In general, it is also worth noting the blurring of the “specialization” of the exhibition - more precisely, a broader representation of the companies engaged in “communication” in general, and practically without dividing the pavilions by subject. This, of course, disoriented visitors, and in combination with an unprecedented noise level ( measurements were carried out in the Forum pavilion at the Race Communications stand , in the background the noise level reached 85 Db) forced people to communicate literally with gestures.

The fourteenth Svyaz-Expocomm exhibition is over. It is certainly successfully organized and conducted. However, I would like to see it more informative and commercially successful than Svyaz-2001. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Let's hope that positive changes in this direction will occur next year, in May, at the Svyaz-Expocomm-2003 exhibition.