Euromedia March | Page 28

nab review_nab 24/04/2014 12:17 Page 1 Once again, organisers of Europe’s leading exhibition and congress for broadband, cable and satellite are expecting record numbers. Euromedia takes an advance look at what will attract delegates to Cologne. ver two months before it begins, more than 400 exhibitors have already registered for the event, with a range of congress sessions promising informed debate. The opening discussion is titled ‘Broadband, Television, Online – Business Models for the connected Media World’. For the network operators, the participants will be Michael T Fries (president and CEO, Liberty Global), Dr Manuel Cubero (COO, Kabel Deutschland), Wolfgang Elsäßer (managing director, Astra Deutschland), Michael Hagspihl (managing director marketing, Telekom Deutschland) and Ronny Verhelst (CEO, Tele Columbus Group). Broadcasters will be represented by Conrad Albert (member of the executive board, ProSiebenSat.1) and Peter Weber (corporate counsel, ZDF). The strategy panels will look at personalised TV, multi access strategies, broadband business models beyond the flat rate, platform regulation, copyright, pay-TV and competition with new online offers (OTT). Topics of the nine international technology panels, held entirely in English, include fibre optics (FTTH), multiscreen, IPTV, DOCSIS 3.1, CCAP, RDK, recommendation engines, and WiFi. On the third day of the event there will be a total of seven session, including four expert panels as part of the ‘Connected Home Special’. Now in its second year, the strand is once again organised in cooperation with BITKOM, the German Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media. The event’s highlight is the Connected Home Summit. This international summit discussion features: Thomas Braun (president, ANGA Association of German O 28 EUROMEDIA Cable Operators), Wilhelm Dresselhaus (CEO, Alcatel-Lucent Deutschland), Dr. Christian P Illek (chairman of the management board, Microsoft Deutschland), Bruce McClelland (president, network and cloud and global services, ARRIS), Yves Padrines (VP and GM, SP Video EMEAR, Cisco), and Dr Dirk Wössner (managing director sales, Telekom Deutschland). Dr Peter Charissé, managing irector of ANGA COM, said having numerous leading industry associations as partners for this year’s agenda brought broadband and media even closer together. “Also, in comparison to the previous years, the diversity of the participating network operators has further increased: Along with the cable operators the traditional telcos are strongly represented by Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and several local fibre network operators. In the exhibition hall, visitors may expect more than 400 companies with a perfect mix of international suppliers and medium-sized businesses,” he advised. This year, for the first time, ANGA COM will work together with the Medienforum NRW media congress. The Medienforum NRW has been a stand-out event for 25 years and is supported by the government of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The cooperation includes a joint opening event with a welcome address by Hannelore Kraft, Premier of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. For 2014, ANGA COM features an additional presentation platform for all exhibitors and visitors. In addition to the regular congress panels, exhibiting companies can present their products, projects and solutions in the newly created Speakers’ Corner. The Speakers’ Corner is located on the exhibition boulevard in Hall 10.1 and can be attended free of charge by all exhibition visitors and congress attendees, no additional registration is required. Charissé said that based on the outstanding booking level, ANGA COM would further strengthen its role as the leading European market place for broadband operators and vendors. “Our numerous co-operations with other industry associations prove impressively that we cover the whole spectrum of network operators and technologies, whether national or local, whether cable or fibre,” he declared. Reflecting on the 2013 event, Charissé said the event’s latest initiatives, the new ANGA COM brand and the new topic ‘Connected Media Home’ had taken off. “What our 450 exhibitors put in place was top class. Each year, our visitor structure is becoming more diverse and increases in quality.” Among the Blue Chip exhibitors who have confirmed their presence on what is sure to be a busy show floor are: Agama Technologies; Alcatel-Lucent; Appear TV; ARRIS; ATEME; Aurora Networks; Bridge Technologies; Cisco; Conax; Coship; CryptoGuard; DEV Systemtechnik; Envivio; Ericsson; Espial; Evertz; Harmonic; Hitron; Humax; IneoQuest; JDSU; Media Broadcast; NAGRA; Neotion; Net Insight; Nevion; Newtec; Pace; Qwilt; RGB; Rohde & Schwarz