DistiBlog - the EPN Distribution Blog

Red Corvette a Princely Prize for German Engineer

Stefan Gies, a hardware developer with Atecom, a provider of solutions for the transmission of broadcast content over broadband networks, is feeling pretty good today.

electronica: They Don't Make 'em Like This Anymore

You have to love electronica. Acres of prime electronics stock laid out for inspection. There isn't a comparable show in the world for components and test suppliers. Attendance this year was down seven per cent, which in a year when the numbers suggest the industry is going to hell in a handcart, I would mark as a minor triumph. Overseas visitors bailed out in larger numbers as companies cut back on travel costs.

 

Nothing's perfect so here are my 10 likes and didn't likes about the week (with an acknowledgment to Sports Illustrated Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column - if you are a fan of the NFL, a thoroughly recommended read)

 

Ten Things I liked about electronica

 

1. Upbeat show – as we enter a tough, tough time for the industry, you wouldn’t have known it in

   Munich

   last week
2. Full marks to the Abacus team. Uncertainty hanging over some of them, no question, they were giving it everything at the show.
3. Meeting a bunch of people, including old mates, not seen for a few years
4. Digi-Key’s footballs (soccer to the

   Thief

   River

   Falls

   team). Brought 5,000 as giveaways, and wished they had brought more as stock ran out by the second afternoon of the show.
5. A spirited rendering of the Habanera from Carmen at the ST Microelectronics party on Wednesday evening
6. UK-based PR company Napier’s civilised dinner gathering on the Thursday evening. Believe me you need civilised by the third evening of electronica.
7. Brian Halla, CEO of National Semiconductor proudly showing pix of his first grandchildren (twins!)
8. Technology’s ability to allow me to buy the international edition of The Guardian at 7am from the Hauptbahnhof newsagents and read Richard Williams (top sports journalist) on the way to the show.
9. The show's uber efficient press operation managed by the admirable Angela Praeg, and the supply of 8 hours free Internet WiFi conection – what a Godsend!

10. UK

    company CRFS’s RFeye system which allows roaming spectrum monitoring – the cutest bit of technology kit I saw all week.
11. Free travel on Munich’s public transport system for press and exhibitors

 

That's what electronica does to you - so knackered you can't even count.

 

 

10 Things I didn't like about electronica

 

1. The weather – consistent rain for two days – even the snow which sometimes shows up would have been more welcome
2. The packed standing only U-bahn trains – courtesy of the free travel offer
3. The Movenpick ice cream carts didn't show up – couldn’t buy my ice cream cone treat of an afternoon
4. Companies who think journalists have 2 hours to spare during show hours – gotta be kidding me
5. The gradual invasion of the show halls by smokers who didn’t want to stand out in the rain. Tough Luck I say
6. Why isn’t the catalogue, which could stop a bus in its tracks, available on CD
7. Every disti I saw is going to be OK next year – which means some poor sods aren’t going to be selling a resistor!!
8. On Friday afternoon my feet were telling me they weren’t enjoying electronica at all
9. Overpriced, average food – but that’s par for the course at any exhibition centre, mind you the beer is OK!

 

I’ll stop at nine to give the things I liked the edge – after all it is a terrific exhibition

 

No Business Like Show Business!!

I like exhibitions. They are terrific networking events, and a chance to meet a whole group of people in one place, and some you would struggle to meet anywhere else.