CeBIT 2012 opens: photos

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    Before attendees stormed the exhibition floor, it was quiet, with barely a breath of air to shift the banners.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    NBN Co rolled into CeBIT with its National Broadband Network (NBN) truck, complete with faux lawn.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    Lenovo, on the other hand, attempted to set the world record for number of laptops on a motorcycle.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    Alienware is back in town with its showcase caravan, and, yes, that is Diablo III on the laptop in the foreground.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    Dell's stand stretched two stories up, and featured its own coffee cart below its giant, revolving logo.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    Samsung attempted to tuck its surface table into a corner, but that proved to be slightly impossible, due to the company's choice of stand.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    Samsung had picked a giant dome in which to show off its latest technologies, with a focus on cloud.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    AAPT took a different approach, inviting guests to sit inside to get out of the "rain".

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    CSIRO tried to draw visitors to its stand with its clean, white lines and helpful scientists ready to explain concepts.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    NICTA just resorted to a big, purple arrow.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    CSIRO was running through demonstrations of its latest projects, including how tech support can be delivered remotely.

    Users wear a kit, including a helmet-mounted camera, to remotely show what they're working on to a "helper" who's thousands of kilometres away.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    China Shenzhen has been a staple of CeBIT for many years now, informing prospective Australian customers of what's happening overseas.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    There's also something for those in the datacentre and cable-management space, with many bringing in their own racks, types of cables and associated cooling equipment.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    Forget surface tables; the folks at A1-Systems demonstrated multi-touch capabilities on a TV-sized device, enabling people to draw on their favourite soccer star in order to point out their foibles.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    The NSW Government had a large display to showcase how it's using geospatial information. This model of George Street, Sydney, was loaded with sensors, and plugged in to a 3D graphics engine to allow users to virtually roam around the city. The sensors keep the model up to date.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    The University of NSW is also working with the government on other projects using the technology. While it's still a work in progress, events such as bomb explosions can be simulated for disaster planning. Other work between the NSW Government and UNSW will eventually allow for sensors to create a dynamic, real-time 3D environment automatically, even during an environment-changing disaster, so that rescue teams will know what they're walking into, without even being there.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    The emergency services were at CeBIT, demonstrating what Fire and Rescue NSW is doing with its Portable Automatic Weather Station to better predict conditions wherever they go.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    The State Emergency Service (SES) also turned up, with a boat in tow.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    Huawei had a stand at the event, targeting enterprise users. It was situated relatively far from the NBN truck, on the other side of the exhibition hall.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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    (Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

    It was just across the path from Telstra, which is pushing for a cloud-based theme this year.

    Caption by: Michael Lee

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Business-technology exhibition CeBIT 2012 kicked off today, bringing together a who's who of technology players. Many exhibitors appeared to be playing it safe, with booth babes absent from view. Instead, a few took BYO to heart, and brought their own trucks, caravans and bikes.

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(Credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

Before attendees stormed the exhibition floor, it was quiet, with barely a breath of air to shift the banners.

Caption by: Michael Lee

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