Thursday, June 24, 2004

Breaking news from yesterday--the end of Comdex. Once one of the largest trade shows in the United States, the computer dealers expo is suffering from declining attendance (where are those computer dealers of yesteryear?) and lack of support from major vendors. It seems that the "PC industry" has split into consumer electronics with the convergence of media centers, music, video, photography on one hand and business-specific IT solutions on the other. I wasn't there, but reports I've read said that Network + Interop had a buzz this year, for example. This sounds familiar to those of us who watch the manufacturing and automation markets. Consolidation of companies both among users of automation and suppliers have combined to reduce attendance at automation trade shows like National Manufacturing Week and ISA's show and conference. Meanwhile, more and more major suppliers have opted for their own shows which can be combined with an abundance of training classes so that attendees can justify the trip as education rather than boondoggle. In a way that's too bad. Industries need a gathering place where everyone involved can mingle and journalists can get a sense of the state of the industry. What is starting to take that place are the Forums hosted by Andy Chatha and his ARC Advisory Group. I'm in Boston this week at the annual Forum on Enterprise Software applications. More on that in the next few days. There is another annual event in January/February in Orlando that focuse on factory automation. Rather than having attendees spoon fed by suppliers, many engineers and IT professionals share success stories. Another good place to go and learn. 5:01:31 AM    comment []

I'm just back from a much needed vacation in Norway. It's a beautiful country of mountains, fjords and friendly people. The country evolved from a relatively poor population of farmers and fishermen with the discovery of oil in the North Sea. It is the world's third largest producer of crude. However, I never saw a refinery (I didn't cover the entire country, mind you), and the price of gasoline seemed comparable to other European cities I've visited over the past couple of years. It was mostly around 10 Kroner per liter (approximately $5.50 per gallon). A long winter with significant snowfall in the mountains plus many mountains means many waterfalls. These are beautiful to see as a tourist, and beautiful in another way to power engineers. Electricity is abundant and inexpensive in the country. Even remote mountain cabins can be wired. The software company IFS maintains its power division headquarters in Oslo. The only other manufacturing I saw there was primary metals production. Abundant and inexpensive electricity plus sea ports that never freeze over due to the Gulf Stream mean that ore mined primarily in Sweden can be shipped for processing to Norway with the refined metals shipped to manufacturers around Europe. Many seemingly remote villages along a fjord sport a metals plant prominently along the water. 4:49:38 AM    comment []