IP expo cancelled due to bleak economic outlook

The organisers of IP EXPO, Montgomery Africa has announced that the technology show will not take place as planned in August this year. This decision had to be made because many information and communication technology (ICT) vendors and resellers whose technologies were on show have cut their advertising budgets again as the recession continues to bite.

"Pressure on global marketing budgets has made it difficult for ICT vendors to focus on developing markets such as South Africa," said Hugh Keeble, managing director at Imago Techmedia, Montgomery's partner in the project. "We will be keeping a keen eye on the region however, and hope to make more announcements when conditions are right."

Ahead of its time for SA market

Keeble also said that perhaps the show was a little ahead of its time for the South African market, since it focuses on the still emerging technologies of cloud computing, IP infrastructure, and virtualisation. The recession has forced businesses to reduce or delay their investments in IT infrastructure, and at the moment those bandwidth-intensive technologies are still at the early adoption stage in South Africa. But that would inevitably change in the near future.

"The benefits of IP networks on increased business agility and collaboration are well understood, and the impact of technologies such as virtualisation and cloud computing means that adoption is inevitable," said Keeble.