Hubbry Logo
logo
COMDEX
Community hub

COMDEX

logo
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Contribute something to knowledge base
Hub AI

COMDEX AI simulator

(@COMDEX_simulator)

COMDEX

COMDEX (an abbreviation of COMputer Dealers' EXhibition) was a computer expo trade show held in the Las Vegas Valley of Nevada, United States, each November from 1979 to 2003. It was one of the largest computer trade shows in the world, usually second only to the German CeBIT, and one of the largest trade shows in any industry sector. COMDEX exhibitions were held in many other countries from 1982 to 2005, with 185 shows altogether. The first COMDEX was held in 1979 at the MGM Grand (now Horseshoe), with 167 exhibitors and 3,904 attendees. In 1981, the first COMDEX/Spring was held in New York City.

COMDEX was started by The Interface Group, whose organizers included Sheldon Adelson, and Richard Katzeff. In 1995, they sold the show to the Japanese technology conglomerate Softbank Corp. In 2001, Softbank sold the show to Key3Media, a spin-off of Ziff Davis. After entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2003, Key3Media resurfaced as Medialive International with a cash infusion from Thomas Weisel Capital Partners, which had previously invested in the company. In November 2006, Forbes magazine reported that United Business Media PLC had purchased the events assets of MediaLive International Inc.[citation needed]

Personal Computer Faire in San Francisco, the Northeast Computer Faire in Boston, and Southern California Computer Faire were presented by Computer Faire Inc., Newton, Mass., a subsidiary of Prentice-Hall.

Northeast Computer Faire 1988 was presented by The Interface Group and Boston Computer Society in Boston.

COMDEX was initially restricted to those directly involved in the computer industry. It was the one show where all levels of manufacturers and developers of computers, peripherals, software, components, and accessories met with distributors, retailers, consultants and their competitors.[citation needed]

Colloquially known as "Geek Week", COMDEX evolved into a major technical convention, with the industry making major product announcements and releases there. Numerous small companies from around the world rose to prominence following appearance at COMDEX, and industry leaders sought opportunities to make keynote addresses. They discussed the computer industry, history, trends and future potential. The first COMDEX Conference, attracted 4000 paying attendees and grew to over 100,000, becoming a launch platform for key technologies. Bluetooth and USB had conference programming and associated exhibition floor pavilions to help these technologies and start up companies be seen in such a large event and marketplace. In 1982, Microsoft founder Bill Gates attended the conference and saw a demonstration of VisiCorp's Visi On, a GUI software suite for IBM PC compatible computers. The development of Windows 1.0 began soon thereafter. In 1999, Linus Torvalds attended the exhibition to talk about the Linux family of operating system. A Linux conference and exhibition hall was a co-located event, helping elevate the open source products.

In the late 1980s, COMDEX was opened to the general public, causing an explosion in attendance, [citation needed] but diluting COMDEX's wholesale industry focus.[citation needed] Retailers and consultants complained that 'leading edge' customers, upon whom they relied for early adoption of new technology, were buying products at 'show specials' and then expecting the dealers to support those products. [citation needed]. The broadening of audience criteria came about as IT departments decentralized and purchasing of technology products shifted from a central corporate IT budget to departments and company divisions, mirroring the shift from mainframes to decentralized networks and local area networking, and later the Internet as the corporate backbone.

After the Spring 1981 show in New York City and 1982 in Atlantic City, COMDEX began regular spring shows in Atlanta, Georgia from 1983 through 1988. Then alternated sites between Atlanta and Chicago. The final Atlanta Spring COMDEX was held in 1997; the last Spring COMDEX was planned for Chicago in April 2003 but cancelled.

See all
former computer expo
User Avatar
No comments yet.