April 01, 2004

Following are some German exhibitor testimonials: Dieter Kempf , CEO of Datev eG, found good reason for optimism. "The level of visitor interest was much higher than last year. After-show business als promises to be very good". For Juergen Gallmann, CEO of Microsoft Germany, it was " a very successful CeBIT that exceeded our expectations, with the 'Integrated Innovations' motto being extremely well received by visitors."

For Rudolf Moecklinghoff, marketing director director of software giant SAP AG, CeBIT 2004 confirmed yet again the supremacy of the show as the world's IT industry's premier event. He said: "The diversity of the firms exhibiting at CeBIT bears witness to the ongoing transformation of the event away from its traditionally product-centered approach and towards becoming a strongly solutions-driven event. Apart from the rise in professional attendance, we also recorded an increase in the number of overall contacts made". Werner Suelzer, vice president EMEA of NCR GmbH, pronounced this year's CeBIT to be extremely successful. " In the first week the number of visitors was one third higher than last year ", he commented.

Peter Wagner, board chairman of debitel AG, emphasized the many good business talks held and the number of genuinely interested dealers encountered at this year's CeBIT. His summary: " A relaxed and positive mood with good prospects for the rest of the year. " In his capacity as chairman of the CeBIT advisory board, Wagner rated CeBIT 2004 as thoroughly positive from an exhibitor point of view: " A confident sector is now returning home with renewed vigor! " In the view of Stefan Gilica, director of sales for T-Mobile, CeBIT " sent out positive signals and gave testimony to a significantly more buoyant mood that companies are increasingly willing to invest in cost-effective communication solutions," he said.

Alf Henry Wulf, head of sales and marketing at Alcatel SEL, valued " the large turnout by business leads with top credentials, and the many informed discussions held with trade professionals. " In the run-up to the show, our faith in CeBIT as a means to kickstart an upswing in the ICT industry was indeed well placed, " he added. Dr. Werner Teuffel, CEO of Olympus Europe GmbH, put it this way: "We are extremely satisfied with the run of the show. It seems we chose the right approach, with our mix of new product launches and practical demonstrationss of digital photography" .

Thomas Fahrner, Regional Sales Director of the Hitachi Digital Media Group, was also very happy with the outcome of CeBIT: " While this trade show has always been a benchmark event for business products and has once again led to good business contacts, we also noticed significantly greater increase in consumer electronics this time around".