With ANGA COM 2017 just a few weeks away, time to catch up again with Dr. Peter Charissé, managing director ANGA COM, about the current status of this year’s event, which will be held from Tuesday, May 30 till Thursday, June 1, in Cologne, Germany.
The big news for this year is of course the new halls – can you eleborate on the feedback you are receiving?
The feedback of our customers exceeded our highest expectations: We do have 460 exhibitor registrations – this is more than in the previous year – and numerous increases in booth size. In addition, the exhibition space that we added later is meanwhile sold out.
What are the highlights of this year’s conference?
One again we will have an opening discussion with especially high-level representatives of the broadband and media industry. Speakers include Vodafone CEO Dr. Hannes Ametsreiter, Niek Jan van Damme (CEO Telekom Deutschland), Unitymedia CEO Lutz Schüler, Anke Schäferkordt (CEO Media Group RTL Deutschland) and Carsten Schmidt (CEO Sky Deutschland). Highlight of the international congress track with 14 panels in English is the International Television & Broadband Summit with Cisco, Vodafone, Liberty Global, ARRIS, Huawei and Rogers Communications.
Can you identify any trends this year?
First and foremost, the ongoing roll-out of gigabit networks remains on the top list of current trends. We are addressing fiber as well as the newest cable standard DOCSIS 3.1. In the field of media it seems to me that personalization is the most exciting topic. This includes time-shifted TV just as recommendation engines, big data, multiscreen and OTT.
The new location also means new catering facilities. I notcied there is now an open air plaza with food trucks. Tell me more…
We are creating a “comfort zone” with food trucks and lots of greenery directly next to the exhibition halls. Our visitors will have the opportunity to commute between our modern, airy halls, a central boulevard and the open air plaza just with a few steps. ANGA COM will reach a completely new level regarding appearance, convenience and logistics.