The 16th Azerbaijan International Telecommunications & Information Technologies Exhibition & Conference took place in Baku Expo Center on Nov. 23-26.
The sixteenth edition of the exhibition, which each year brings together professionals from the region's telecommunications sector, was held within International ICT Week and will include a number of events. The exhibition was organized by Iteca Caspian LLC, part of ITE Group PLC (UK). A special role in the development of the exhibition has been played by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which provides invaluable support to the exhibition and conference. The exhibition is also supported by international industry institutions, including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), and Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC). BakuTel has been recognised by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) as a "UFI Approved Event" status, which is confirmation that the event meets the highest international standards.
BakuTel was held in a new exhibition venue, Baku Expo Center. This was a long-awaited event for exhibitors, as holding the exhibition in a modern venue more effectively showed companies' stands. BakuTel brought together over 100 companies from 15 countries, including Azerbaijan, Israel, China, Malaysia, UAE, Turkey, USA and others. Local companies made up about 40 percent of the total area of the exhibition. At BakuTel, Azerbaijan's Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies, together with partner companies, presented the results of the work done on the government projects "National Computer", "Electronic Signature", and "Electronic Document". Over 40 percent of the exhibition area was occupied by major ICT companies, most of which are regular exhibitors at BakuTel. They include: Azedunet, Azel, Azercell Telecom, Azerfon-Vodafone, AzerTelekom, Aztelecom, Azqtel, B & B TV, Bakcell, Baku Telephone Communications Production Association, Bestcomp, Caspel, Caspian Navtel, Delta Telecom, Elsis, Gilat, Golden Pay, Hewlett Packard, Huawei Technologies, Idrak Technology Transfer, Intelsoft, Matrix, Measat Satellite, Microsoft, Nar Mobile, Nokia Siemens Netoworks, Oracle, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Penkiu Kontinentu Bankines Teknologijos, RISK, Saybernet, SINAM, Sinerji, Softline, Teleradio, Ultra, ZTE and others.
Due to the urgency of the problems associated with global climate change, as well as the Year of the Environment in Azerbaijan, the special theme of the exhibition was "ICT and Global Climate Change". The ICT conference, which was held on Nov. 24, was also be devoted to this theme. The conference annually accompanies the exhibition and is organized by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The speakers at the conference included experts from leading local and international ICT and telecommunications companies, who shared their experiences and talked about upcoming projects.
According to research, the interest of visitors in new products and technologies far exceeds the supply of new products from exhibiting companies. In this regard, the organizers have taken several measures to help attract even more attention to exhibitors' original products, and promoted innovative products, services and technologies in the national market. At the exhibition, the organizers arranged an Innovation Zone, in which companies were able to present new ICT products, technologies and solutions.
The General Sponsor of the exhibition this year was Huawei Technologies. Another sponsor of the exhibition was Oracle. Among the partners of the autumn exhibitions in 2010 were the companies Azerfon-Vodafone, Pasha Sigorta, Caspel, Greenwich Travel Club, SIAR and Caucas Point Hotel.