Nuremberg the Security Capital City for three days

Nuremberg, 15 October 2009. Successful premiere: the IT security trade fair it-sa was held in Nuremberg for the first time on 13-15 October. This year 257 exhibitors were represented. More companies presented their products and services at the first it-sa to be held at the new venue than they did last year, when it was staged as one section – the IT SecurityArea – of SYSTEMS.

Altogether over 6,600 professionals from industry, research and government agencies attended the trade fair. By comparison, 5,700 visitors attended last year’s SYSTEMS specifically on account of IT security. Some 20 percent of pre-registered visitors to the new it-sa came from the Nuremberg and Munich regions, while 80 percent travelled from elsewhere in Germany or abroad.

Commenting on the event, the organisers, SecuMedia, were distinctly upbeat. “This was not a trade fair simply organised by one publishing house, but one that spoke for the entire industry. Together we succeeded in establishing a focal point for IT security in Nuremberg,” said Peter Hohl, SecuMedia director. The exhibitor companies were also extremely positive about the event. “At it-sa we had very good technical discussions with people who had singled out this trade fair to attend. Our expectations were exceeded by a long way,” said Mike Prieskorn, managing director of CenterTools.

The two notional sponsors behind it-sa, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), were also very pleased with the results of the trade fair. “BITKOM is firmly convinced that “IT security made in Germany”  has the potential to become an export earner. This year’s Independent it-sa laid an important foundation for this,” said Heinz-Paul Bonn, Vice President of BITKOM. “In its new form as an independent event platform, it-sa more than met expectations. The BSI will therefore continue its long-established partnership with it-sa,” added Bernd Kowalski, Head of Department at the BSI.

This year the open forums in the exhibition halls were particularly well attended. Experts shared their specialist knowledge with visitors in over 180 presentations given on three lecture podiums. One special highlight was the three keynotes delivered by Taher Elgamal, one of the world’s leading experts in the area of computer, network and information security. Other crowd-pullers were the daily live hacking presentations by IT security experts at the forums, along with various round-table discussions on subjects of topical interest in the industry.

Subject-oriented route markings helped visitors to find their way among the extensive offerings: as in a city map, route markers guided visitors directly to the exhibitors that were able to offer solutions and provide relevant information in specific problem areas. The numerous workshops, conferences and campaigns in the exhibition halls and in the adjoining congress centre also met with a lot of interest.

In this way, it-sa acted as a focal point for IT security that is unique in the German-speaking world and was a valuable platform for the presentation and exchange of information between IT experts. All in all, it was a splendid debut for a trade show now firmly established in the new venue of Nuremberg.

The next it-sa will take place on 19-21 October 2010 in Nuremberg.

Press photographs on it-sa can be found at http://secumedia.emerge-life.de