Tango photos mixed with Fiber-Ethernet converters

A DAY with nasty weather didn't prevent the INQ's gaucho correspondent from attending the country's annual telecommunications exhibition, EXPOCOMM. Here is what this scribbler found noteworthy on the show's first day, yesterday.

This year the expo has an array of assorted small booths offering interesting hardware, from directional antennas and mobile phones and accessories to even pure "consumer" IT tech not directly related with telecomms, and that's precisely what makes this show so interesting: the small booths are almost always more interesting than the big ones by telco behemoths. There was even a company offering its line of CIS (Continuous Ink Systems) devices for inkjet printers, go figure.

Wintec
I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Liu, who came down all the way from Wintec's Fremont, California headquarters and was very enthusiastic about appearing on the INQ. Promoted in the booth is the company's assorted line of Wintec memory products, from desktop memory to the company's FileMate USB thumb drives, with capacity going from 512MB to four gigabytes.

Robert Liu proudly showing Wintec's product line

The booth also features the interesting "MP4" digital players with a 1.8-inch colour LCD screen and 512MB flash memory capacity, FM tuner and FM recording, plus the ability to play movies in the "Small Movie" SMV format plus the usual MP3, WAV, and even WMV,ASF. The company produces these thin pocket players -about the size of a thin candybar mobile phone- with attractive cases featuring the flag of the country of your choice. On the booth, the company has one sporting the Brazil flag. I jokingly told Mr. Liu that the soccer fan inside me was outraged. No really.

"That green-yellow one" won't sell many to local football fans... I guess. JOKE

Robert Liu told the INQ that versions sporting the flags of the UK and Argentina are being produced. Thumbs up for Wintec's booth and the effort of coming down here, I really hope to see them down here again next year.

Wintec's product line even includes affordable USB 2.0 HD enclosures

IMC Networks
Networking kit can be boring, but it's always a pleasure to find companies with employees who understand what they are selling. Gabriel Bejar Arbayza -who came down from Lima, Peru- and Fanny Scarlage -from the company's office in Clearwater, Florida- really know how to explain the IMC Networks' technology and how it fits into the overall picture of telecommunications providers. The company wasn't down here last year, and I was very pleased to see new firms like this one appearing on the expo.

Fanny Scarlage from the U.S. and Gabriel Bejar Arbayza from Peru

IMC's product line focuses on SNMP-managed optical networking, "Media Converters" -media as in 'transmission media' not multimedia- (fiber-to-Ethernet and the like) and "Fiber to the Home" plus "Fiber to the premises" -FTTx- technology.

Pocket-sized Fiber -ok, fibre for people in Blighty- to Ethernet converters

The booth is stacked with an assorted collection of its fiber and Ethernet kit, and most notable to my home-user mindset was a small fiber-to-ethernet media converter, about the size of a notebook power brick. The company also has on display its "iView²" SNMP device management software, which the company provides free of charge with its fiber-to-the-home, optical networking and Media Converters. Thumbs up for IMC as well. No, the great assorted candy bowl that was available to visitors and this member of the Free Press, didn't influence my decision... at least not too much.

Tango, Gauchos, Patagonia - Artistic Photos even in your mobile!
There is only one lonely booth showcasing Apple's kit on the show this year, and it wasn't even Mac-specific -just like last year- but this time, the machine is a local one: it promotes artistic photographs by renewed photographer Aldo Sessa, who has turned his artistic creations into an amazing money making machine, for those who can afford it.

On the booth were Mariano Emanuelli and Luis Sessa. And, once again, a single booth featuring an Apple.

Sessa has moved quickly to also enter the digital world, with his own publishing company now online but also launching themed domain names like tangostock.com, patagoniastock.net, and gauchostock.com. On display on Aldo Sessa's booth are not only several printed editions of the over 30 art books the artist has published, but also his digital images, available for licensing.

A the company representative said the price to use one of these photos on the cover of a popular magazine "varies, but might be around $700". He showed me with joy the company's latest experiment: Sessa's stock photos as digital backgrounds -wallpapers- for cellular phones. "Look, you can have that one on your mobile". I only hope that low-res versions are priced more affordably. Thumbs up for a touch of art at boring IT expos as well. µ

See Also
Argentina, reversal of fortune
An Telecommunications Technology show where?
EXPOCOMM Argentina 2006 coverage
EXPOCOMM Argentina 2005 coverage
EXPOCOMM Argentina 2004 coverage