Today: January 05, 2001 at 11:02:08 PST
CES brings traffic, $165 million
payday
By Richard N. Velotta
<velotta@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN
A second wave of technologists invades Las
Vegas this weekend with an estimated 130,000
people arriving for the 2001 International
Consumer Electronics Show.
Less than two months after 200,000
conventioneers spent five days at the Comdex
computer trade show in November, more than
1,800 companies are showcasing technology
at CES, considered the more
consumer-oriented of the city's two major
technology exhibitions.
The show is not open to the public. Rather, it is
geared to industry participants from around the
world.
The anticipated turnout -- based on advanced
registration statistics -- would be a record for
the show.
Many of the exhibitors from Comdex -- and the
speakers -- are the same at CES. But the
emphasis of the four-day show that begins
Saturday at four venues is more on finished
products and not the internal workings that
make them function.
While techies talking in cyber-acronyms is the
stuff of Comdex, CES is more likely to land on
the morning television news shows with a
parade of gee-whiz gadgets retailers hope will
be on everyone's gift list.
Wireless communications continues to be a hot
topic for the 2001 show with a special
emphasis on devices for the car. Digital radio,
vehicular access to the Internet and Global
Positioning System satellite navigation
products will dot the trade-show floors.
Other products getting considerable pre-show
publicity: Toshiba's portable DVD player with
scanning technology, which includes a 7-inch
LCD screen; Zenith's new 60-inch widescreen
plasma display monitor television; Applied
Biometrics Products' Kryptic Pilot, a portable
fingerprint scanner that only allows activation
of a Palm Pilot handheld computer by its
owner; and Home Automation Inc.'s Web-Link II
software that allows Internet access to control
computerized home systems remotely.
Dozens of technology issues will be aired in a
series of seminars and panels and exhibitors
representing 25 different technology segments
will display products expected to be on
department store shelves this year. Exhibits
will be shown on trade show floors at the Las
Vegas Convention Center, the Las Vegas
Hilton, the Riviera hotel-casino and the Alexis
Park Resort.
Among the technology categories: digital audio
and video, information technology, home
networking, emerging technologies,
broadband, home theater, mobile electronics,
personal electronics, content media, specialty
audio, delivery systems, including satellite
television, the Internet, telephony and wireless
communications.
Microsoft Corp. Chief Software Architect Bill
Gates, the kickoff speaker at Comdex, is
scheduled to deliver the keynote address at
CES Saturday and is expected to discuss
Microsoft's foray into interactive games and the
company's Xbox game console technology.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors
Authority estimates the CES contingent will
have a $165.5 million nongaming economic
impact on the city.
Kevin Bagger, a Las Vegas Convention and
Visitors Authority researcher, said the 122,000
people who attended CES last year produced
a nongaming economic impact of $149.7
million.
But as one of Las Vegas five largest
conventions, the show will have an impact on
the city's traffic. The good news for commuters,
though, is that CES is scheduled over the
weekend, so only two business days will be
affected by the large numbers.
Still, with more than 100,000 people moving in
and out of the Las Vegas Convention Center
during the show, Metro Police traffic officers
have their work cut out for them.
Traffic details will be assigned to Paradise
Road and Convention Center Drive for the
duration of the convention, Sgt. Frank
Weigand said.
"As always we'll be out there doing the best we
can, but there's only so much space and so
many cars," Weigand said.
While not as large as Comdex, CES crowds
still cause congestion in and around the
convention center, Weigand said.
"There are a lot of displays in the parking
areas this year, so it'll probably be more of a
traffic mess than it usually is," Weigand said.
"There will be an influx of pedestrians and I'd
recommend that if possible, people avoid
Paradise this weekend."
The 2001 version of the show is the first CES
that isn't using the Sands Expo Center as a
venue. The Arlington, Va.-based Consumer
Electronics Association, CES' sponsor and one
of the major backers of the expansion of the
Las Vegas Convention Center, will set up
several booths in tent structures erected in the
convention center's parking lots.
The $150 million south hall expansion under
way just south of the center is scheduled to
house the 2002 CES next January. If the
project stays on schedule, the 2002 CES
would be one of the first conventions to use
the 1.3 million-square-foot two-story exhibit
hall.
The steel superstructure of the expansion
already straddles Desert Inn Road east of
Paradise Road.
But just because CES isn't at the Sands
doesn't mean there aren't a host of
technologists at that convention hall affiliated
with the Venetian hotel-casino.
Thursday was the opening of the Internext
trade show, which runs through Saturday.
Internext is a technology show catering
specifically to the adult entertainment industry.
While that show, which features a series of
seminars on content trends and legal
challenges facing the industry, has its
three-day run, Sands officials also are gearing
for the start of the Video Software Dealers
Association trade show, which will bring 10,000
people to the city Sunday through Wednesday.
Exhibits at that event often are frequented by
Hollywood celebrities who promote their films
that have gone to video.
lasvegassun.com
steve |
