CeBit Australia 2005

Orignially published here.

I just got back from CeBit Australia 2005, where over 600 companies are showing off the latest in cool tech gear. Here are some impressions:

Firstly, VoIP is IN. It's the new black. Every kind of VoIP technology is on display: the servers, cabling, backend software, PC based connection gear, handsets, earpieces, Bluetooth adaptors, small office systems, enterprise grade kit outs and half a million consultants to help you put it all together.

Mobile phones are hot too, and they're getting smaller. They're also getting some funky new designs, a stand out being from new Australian company Linophir. The E1000 cube-like device has a really interesting keypad, while the C800 looks kind of like a discman if it was shrunk to the size of a jam jar lid.

I also got my first look at a real 3D plasma screen TV. I never thought I'd say that watching an animated can of Guinness play football was an exciting experience, but Electroboard has successfully changed my view on that.

And speaking of presentation display gear, if you're in the market for an electronic whiteboard you can expect to see a lot more of it about in the near future. Everywhere I turned there was a huge screen with sales people drawing stick figures on it with sensor-pens.

Another interesting thing I realized was that technology has matured enough for a second-hand market to spring up, and I'm not just talking about selling your old hard drive on eBay either.

How would you like a used Cisco switch powerful enough to run your own phone company? Many of the tech-based companies we see today built their million dollar empires on this stuff and you can now pick it up for a fraction of what it would have cost you five years ago. (I saw ISP grade gear leases starting at less than $1000 - gives you a few ideas, doesn't it?)

Of course, there was a stack of other stuff - GPS navigation systems, foreign governments spruiking their ICT industries, PC modding gear, f*cking huge displays, routers, wireless networking cards, robots (go Aibo, go!), RFID systems, biometric locks, e-commerce providers, virus and spam killing software and a load of very silly people trying to convince the world that THEIR digital rights management "solutions" actually worked.

Getting the sales pitch from one of these DRM companies was really a very enlightening experience and lead me to an interesting conclusion: they really don't know what they're up against.

Listening to this guy ramble on about how his company's software WILL make my electronic documents secure, I mentally pulled it apart. Half the "solution" relies on methods which have already been compromised, an important part of the key management could be circumvented with a few social engineering tricks (geeks should read this as "being able to talk to people") and I'd give the rest of it a few days once an experienced hacker gets hold of it, including removal of the watermark.

I confronted the salesman with the social engineering aspect of it, which lead to the National Sales Manager being called over. I got the higher level pitch which is reserved for people who know what they're talking about, which included lots of ICT buzz words. I didn't press the matter. I just thanked the guy for his time and took a brochure.

As I walked away from the stand, I looked around at the crowd - suits, styled haircuts, promo girls, slick logos, custom built display stands, complementary coffee and free pens. I wondered how many of these people were there because they were passionate about the technology and how many were there just to sell something.

Then I watched as a kid on a skateboard sailed down the corridor and forced the suits to jump out of the way.

Twenty seconds later a security guard appeared in pursuit.

I felt much better knowing that there was at least one person there who didn't play by the rules.