THE Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) organised a weeklong mega exposition of IT accessories, BCS IT Expo 2008, at ECS Computer City in Dhaka. The fair began March 30 and will continue through April 5.

This year BCS has selected a different venue, ECS Computer City, in order to make the event more accessible to the people, especially for the students and mid-income people. The IT Expo 2008 is occupying a space of about 1,00,000 square feet and 276 companies are displaying their products from 300 outlets.

BCS said they have dedicated this year's fair to the students. The organisers have arranged transports for students from 20 select academic institutions. Mustafa Jabbar, president of BCS, told StarTech that this year “we plan to pick up near about 3,000 students and we’re showing them the fair with special care so that they can be familiar with technology and become attracted to IT innovations’*.

“After this fair, we're also planning to organise ICT shows in different parts of the country where university students will get the opportunity to showcase their innovative projects", Jabbar said.

Different IT vendors are offering discount prices, gifts and other facilities to the visitors at the fair. People are also streaming into the expo in order to buy products at reasonable prices. Some show up just to get familiar with new gadgets or to hang around there.

Notebook craze

This year people are showing interest in laptops, stylish monitors, high-resolution printers and cheap PC packages.

Acer has come up with laptops with attractive prices. Acer Aspire 4715ZNWXMi features Intel dual-core mobile processor, Linpus Linux basic edition, wide screen TFT LCD, 512 MB DDR2 RAM, 120 GB SATA HDD, and DVD writer and is priced atTk 54,800.

International Office Machine Ltd (IOM) has brought different Toshiba laptops. The price for a Toshiba satellite laptop ranges from Tk 47,900 to Tk 81,000. Global Brand Pvt Ltd is offering Asus Eee laptop with free pen drive. The Eee laptop features

Intel Mobile CPU and Chipset, 512 MB (DDR2), 4GB solid-state disk, card reader, hi-definition audio stereo speaker microphone, mid-range batter}' etc. This small laptop weighs 0.92 kg and is capable of running on both Linux and Windows platforms.

Printers and Digital Cameras

IT vendor Computer Source Ltd has come up with different Lexmark printers. Lexmark inkjet photo printer models

Z1320 and Z1420 (wireless photo printer) are selling between Tk 5,000 and Tk 7,200. The prices of Lexmark all-in-all printers such as Lexmark XI290, X4270 and X8350 range between Tk 6,000 andTk 18,000. Lexmark high-end colour laser printers are offered at Tk 2,50,000. J.A.N. Associates Ltd has come up with Canon printers and scanners for home and corporate users. Canon printers on offer include large format printer, inkjet etc. J.A.N is also displaying different

Canon brand digital cameras.

Apple magic

Satcom Computers Limited is exhibiting different Apple products from their outlets. Among them, iPod, MacBook, iMac, Mac Mini, Apple Cinema Display, Mac Pro and MacBook Air have got huge responses from the visitors. iPod variations include iPod classic (sliver/balck-80GB /160 GB), iPod Shuffle ( s i 1-ver/blue/green/back-lGB), iPod touch (balck-8GB/16B) and iPod nano ( s 11-ver/blue/green/black-IGB/8GB).

Display technology sets new trend

Due to smart designs and affordable prices, LCD monitors have become the first choice of the technology lovers. Benq has brought LCD monitors of different models such as T51WA (Tk 12,500), G700 (Tk 14,500), E700 (Tk 15,500), E900W (Tk 17,500), T201W (Tk 21,000) and FP222W (Tk 26,000). Prices for Asus monitors range between Tk 16,00 to Tk 48,000.

PC packages

PCs have become an important component in our daily life. So people have rushed to the fair in order to buy PCs at affordable prices. Akij Computer Ltd is offering complete PC packages between Tk 16,000 to Tk 28,600. Intirex Trade has come up with PC solutions that range from Tk 18,200 toTk42,900in price.

Gaming and Internet Zones Children, however, rush to the game zone of the fair. The game zone remains open from 10:30am to6:30pm.The internet zone, sponsored by Akij Online, is also drawing people, especially teenagers, in large num bers.

A university student, Sabbir, said, “The fair does not showcase any new technologies. All the gadgets are not new to me. We must distinguish between a computer market and a computerfair.”

A software engineer said, “Every year I participate in this kind of event; I like it because the fair gives me update information about new IT accessories. I hope more telecom technologies will be exhibited at the fair in the near future”.

Abdullah H Kafr, managing director of J.A.N. Associates Ltd, told StarTech that “computer fair usually turns into a place for selling products. But it is not the ultimate goal of an IT exposition. An IT fair can be a platform for introducing new' age technologies. At this moment we need solution-oriented approach in order to make this event more valuable to the general people. If we get concrete output, we can put pressure on the government to increase contributions to the ICT sector".