A short-range wireless technology called Bluetooth was hyped heavily at last year's Comdex trade show, and its supporters hope to make a big impression this year now that they've moved from prototypes to actual products.
But security-related technologies are expected to get more attention at the largest US annual technology gathering in Las Vegas this week.
Two weeks ago, biometrics companies were still rushing to sign up as exhibitors, and Comdex organizers have added an extra panel on the hot topic.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Anyone who has kept up with the news lately has likely heard about biometrics -- the technology used to identify individual physical characteristics, such as a face, fingerprint or iris, and build security applications around them.
Attention is not just expected to land on start-ups like SecuGen Corp, a fingerprint recognition company whose products are being tested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to upgrade building security, or Visionics Corp, a Jersey City, New Jersey-based company whose facial-recognition technology has been widely publicized since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Others without booths will be making pitches at the show -- such as AcciMetrix, a start-up that with Michaels of Oregon Co, plans to jointly announce the "world's first biometrically secure gun holster."
Larger, established companies like Electronic Data Systems Corp, are also hopping on the security bandwagon. The US$19.2 billion systems consulting firm, spun-off from General Motors in 1996, was to announce new cybersecurity offerings and security tools for airlines and airports.
Beyond security
Nevertheless, biometrics and security is the theme of just one of eight large pavilions that will span 750,000 square feet of exhibit space. Other technology demonstrations will include the latest improvements in chip performance, voice recognition and digital entertainment and media, including set-top boxes, cameras, and audio players.
Wireless products -- pie-in-the-sky ideas only a few years ago -- are coming of age this year. From handheld devices and laptops to Internet appliances such as Web tablets and Internet radios, many more models will feature wireless connectivity to the Web or secure corporate data networks.
Among the various wireless technologies, 802.11b will be this year's darling, industry analysts say. Also known as WiFi, the wireless networking standard allows computers to connect to one another and the Internet untethered.
WiFi is expected to be incorporated in least 71 percent of all wireless-access equipment shipped, up from a 42 percent share in 2000, according to the Allied Business Intelligence market research firm.
"From a user standpoint, there are only a certain amount of technologies that people can wrap their minds around at any one time, and 802.11b is the 800-pound gorilla in wireless today," said Chris LeTocq, an industry analyst at SageCircle Inc in Los Altos, California.
While new and improved technologies will be trade show highlights, the economic downturn that has weeded out start-ups and caused thousands of layoffs should tone down the boom-time euphoria of previous years.
Organizers expect 150,000 attendees -- 50,000 fewer than last year and back to pre-Internet boom levels.
They'll see beefed-up security -- bomb-sniffing dogs, mandatory identification, surveillance cameras and a ban against bags, including laptop bags -- that may dampen the fun.
"This will be a different kind of Comdex given the security and the state of the industry," conceded Kim Myhre, president of Comdex Worldwide. "But we really see this as a great platform to look at the year ahead instead of the year behind."
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