C&W hosts 3-day

If Cable & Wireless’ Tech Fair 2006 was any barometer of the enhancing capability for local businesses then the sky’s the limit to how technology can boost service and competitiveness.

Cable & Wireless and 20 of its clients and suppliers mounted a technologically mind-boggling exposition of gadgets and services in a three-day fair last week.

Approximately 1,500 people attended the fair and according to manager of Sales, Leslie Jack, Cable & Wireless will soon be launching its Business Centre where some of the solutions exhibited will be on display for all customers to “Experience It, Understand it, and Manage It” – the theme of the fair.

The telecommunications provider delivers the circuit to the building. From there the possibilities and applications are endless.

Topping the list was the Voice over IP (VoIP) systems which can help to decentralize offices and create a new category of worker – the Teleworker. {{more}}

Essentially, the new VoIP telephone is plugged into a broadband Internet circuit which means it can be answered in any building or any country. The key component is the broadband service.

The applications are numerous. For example, a client telephones a travel agency. The agent answers and books a flight but that agent is not in an office but probably in a home office with a broadband connection.

Another client telephones a supplier and the sales manager answers the telephone and troubleshoots the complaint however he is not in an office but in a hotel in another country where he is attending a sales conference.

With the Internet being used as the highway for voice traffic, it means a reduction in telephone bills. Central PABX systems can also be decentralized using VoIP with the same extension numbers being used.

Mitel, Nortel, Avaya, and Sonus were the international partners of Cable & Wireless that showcased their VoIP systems.

Security IP surveillance and security systems were also on display by GeoVision and March Networks. These surveillance systems using digital technologies are significantly more secure and more cost effective.

Internet banking solutions were showcased by FirstCaribbean International Bank and the National Commercial Bank while the St Vincent Chamber of Commerce, the National Insurance Services, and the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines showcased their e-business and e-government services.

Other exhibitors were Radioactive (Internet streaming), Express Data Systems (residential and business systems), Island Koncepts (video editing techniques), Cell World (online gaming), and office furniture providers Décor Products, Caribbean Steel and Tubular Industries, and Courts.

Jack said that Cable & Wireless plans follow-up seminars with specific business sectors to further explain how the technologies on display could be applied to each sector.