Shares of almost every telecommunications-related company have plunged in the last year.
Providers of Internet and phone service have gone bankrupt or shut down. Equipment makers have fired thousands of workers.
The slump, though, won't hurt attendance at Supercomm 2001, the 14th edition of the biggest US telecommunications-industry trade show, the event's General Manager Jack Chalden said. He expects visitors to the Atlanta show, which runs Sunday through Thursday, to exceed last year's 53,260, with 858 exhibitors such as Cisco Systems Inc and Nortel Networks Corp.
Yet the makers of communications gear who are showing their latest wares and schmoozing with customers may have a tougher time than last year getting leads that become sales. Phone companies will look for cheaper products that squeeze the most value out of their tighter budgets, while hundreds of startups will try to land any new customers, attendees said.
``There's no room for error for any of us,'' said Greg Gum, vice president of business development for Santa Clara, California-based Ishoni Networks, a 3-year-old closely held maker of Internet-access chips.
The event, run by the Telecommunications Industry Association and the US Telecom Association, will span 550,000 square feet of exhibit space in the Georgia World Congress Center and Georgia Dome, with a possible increase to 650,000 ft2 next year, Chalden said. Companies pay US$3,300 to US$330,000 each for spaces that range from 100 to 10,000 square feet, he said.
Scheduled speakers include Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, SBC Communications Inc Chief Executive Edward Whitacre and Cingular Wireless Chief Executive Stephen Carter.
For makers of switches, routers, optical-networking equipment, lasers, semiconductors and software, Supercomm is one of the biggest annual opportunities to introduce or highlight new products to customers, analysts, investors and reporters.
Applied Micro Circuits Corp, for instance, a maker of chips for fiber-optic gear, will send about 30 employees to show off new semiconductors that reduce the cost of optical connections for phone companies, said Brent Little, senior vice president of marketing.
Cisco, meanwhile, is setting up camp in the nearby Wyndham Hotel. The No. 1 maker of networking equipment will feature Kevin Kennedy, who heads the company's business of selling to telecommunications companies, and other executives hosting breakfasts and luncheons to promote the company's products.
The vendors are all competing for a piece of a sales pie that isn't as big as they thought it would be a year ago. Worldwide sales of communications equipment dropped to US$40.7 billion in the first quarter from US$51.1 billion in the previous period, according to Synergy Research Group.
There may be even more pressure on startups that seemed a sure bet a year ago, some attendees said.
``Venture capitalists and investors are really looking for these guys to deliver the goods now or forever hold their peace,'' said Andrew Feldman, a senior vice president at router maker Riverstone Networks Inc, a Cabletron Systems Inc unit that went public in February.
Ishoni's Gum said phone and Internet service companies, who generally shun exhibit space and keep lower profiles, will be the most sought-after visitors. Cable & Wireless Plc and Qwest Communications International Inc are among the customers sending representatives to the conference.
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