Twelve South African IT firms are exhibiting at this year's Cebit conference in the German city of Hannover, showcasing SA's latest technology offerings.
The South African national pavilion, situated in the fourth of the event's 26 exhibition halls, hosts local security company Sensepost, Cape Town's Candor Technologies, Johannesburg's MyVoip Communications, and Durban-based Pilotfish.
Candor boss Wildo Schnabel - who has been coming to Cebit since 1987 - says the event is an excellent way to meet people in the industry and do business, all within the short week the technology world converges in Germany.
International media reports yesterday morning made reference to Cebit's declining popularity, in terms of visitor numbers. However, Schnabel says it is more about the calibre of businesspeople that attend the event, rather than simply the numbers.
"Last year, for instance, I actually counted it up, and found I engaged with 128 business people on a one-to-one basis," he says.
"Next to tourism, ICT can be one of the biggest exporting industries. We need to go out there and show what we can do."
DTI involvement
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) assisted with selecting companies to go to Cebit, and subsidises some of the costs. Several of the South African firms are part of an initiative by the Dutch government.
Roger Couzens, Natcom's senior manager of projects, says participating in Cebit is not necessarily about signing up a host of big international contracts. "It's more about starting to develop relationships and developing a presence," he points out.
"It's just a fantastic meeting place," adds Ian Rivett, sales and marketing manager for Fundamo, which provides mobile payment and banking solutions.
Rivett says over the next few days he will be able to meet with partners from Iraq, the US and Russia.
"It is also a great chance to gauge ourselves against the other countries out there," he says.
The South African IT companies at Cebit are: Pilotfish, Candor, e-Pages, MyVoip, Natcom, Fundamo, Fraxion, DataWorld, MediaWorks, OpenLab, Sensepost and Trispen.
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