October 2001

Network growth

Case study: NetWorld+Interop's show network matures with the computer industry

By Stacey Anderson O’Brien

What today encompasses an event network and a lab environment for new technologies started 15 years ago as InteropNet - a computer network created for the NetWorld+Interop show by engineers from exhibiting companies, universities, the government and military. The original InteropNet connected exhibitors and attendees and let companies work out the bugs between their products in an open testing environment.

Today, InteropNet has grown right along with the networking industry. To keep pace with new technologies and protocols but still provide a stable, predictable network for exhibitors, InteropNet is now two programs: eNet andiLabs.

eNet, or event network, connects all exhibitors, meeting rooms, conference sessions and attendees through terminals located throughout the convention center. This year, a wireless network adds free Internet access for attendees with wireless-enabled laptops at Wireless Technologies Zones in the convention center and helps troubleshooting teams with wireless handheld devices respond to exhibitors' problems faster. The devices cut problem resolution time from 19 to 12 minutes at the Las Vegas show in May. "And that was with only wirelessly enabling about 25 percent of our technicians," says Steve Wylie, Director of Network Operations for Key3Media Events.

iLabs, the other half of the InteropNet, is a lab environment designed to develop emerging technologies and protocols. In contrast with eNet, which is made up of cutting-edge products currently for sale, products used in iLabs aren't expected to go to market for one to three years.

NetWorld+Interop's advisory board invites an instructor to sit in with the engineering team of each lab within iLabs, developing curriculum based on what happened during the hot stage testing phase a month before the show. The advisory board also meets twice a year to decide what will be covered iniLabs.

To set up the eNet, 60 to 70 volunteer engineers spend two weeks on the hot stage, building the InteropNet at a staging facility using the exact equipment that will be used at the show - right down to the cables that will connect devices.

Even with the hot stage, building the eNet onsite in four days is no easy feat. The 10 to 12 companies chosen through an RFP process by the show's advisory board put their products - such as networking equipment, integration expertise and an Internet connection - to the test in a challenging environment, a 12,000-node network supporting a volatile trade show environment.

"You really don't know what your customers will actually be doing with the network in their own booths," says Wylie. "A large booth might have 200 to 300 computers running behind that network connection. That's where bringing in industry leaders with proven technology solutions is the only way to go."

Stacey Anderson O'Brien is a writer, editor and corporate communications consultant based in suburban Kansas City, MO. O'Brien has covered hundreds of trade shows as a writer for Atwood Publishing LLC and served as EXPO's editor in 1994. Show at a glance

Official show name: NetWorld+Interop 2001 Atlanta

Show owner/organizer: Key3Media Events

Web site: www.interop.com

Show dates: Sept. 9-14, 2001

Show location: Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta

Number of exhibitors: 450

Number of exhibitors wired toInteropNet: All of them

Net exhibit space: Not available

Number of attendees: Notavailable