DigiWorld Summit 2008: The Future of the Internet 30eme edition

DigiWorld Summit 2008: The Future of the Internet 30eme edition des Journees Internationales de l'IDATE 19 - 20 november 2008 (Le Corum, Montpellier - France) South Korea, Guest Country

Montpellier, France (BUSINESS WIRE) - The DigiWorld Summit 2008, which will be taking place on 19 and 20 November in Montpellier, will be devoted to the theme, "The Future of the Internet". More than 1,200 participants and 70 exhibitors are expected at the event.

Now celebrating its 30th year, the DigiWorld Summit has forged itself a reputation as one of the key annual events in Europe for taking stock of the changes at work in the Telecom, Internet and Media sectors.

Designed as a veritable international platform for debate between industry players, this new edition, which welcomes South Korea as its Guest Country, will provide an opportunity to explore various aspects of the central theme in plenary sessions and specialty seminars, including:

The internet is at once the point of convergence and driving force behind most of the changes and innovations in the DigiWorld. The convergence of all IP streams and the host of current uses of the web give way to a number of questions over how the inner workings of the network of networks will evolve:

The scale of the network will change with the emergence of the mobile internet and the infinite possibilities of M2M (object-centric web), which will speed up the migration to IPv6 whose rollout has been timid at best up to now.

The principle of peering is being destabilised by the bandwidth required to download video files from the web's most popular sites.

The principle of equal treatment for packets and streams is being undermined by the rise of synchronous applications, of multicasting functions and the emergence of premium consumer and business services, which push for the introduction of priority queuing mechanisms in packet management and the privatisation of internet subsystems (IP VPN).

These issues only add to the central topics of debate concerning the internet's geopolitical, economic and ethical ecosystem:

Who does the internet belong to? Who owns the main continental and intercontinental backbones? To what extent has the surplus capacity that existed when the bubble burst been reduced? Who has invested in GIX, in CDN? How are hosting architectures, P2P, etc. expected to evolve?

What are the leading players' strategies with respect to internet infrastructure: especially Google, Amazon and Microsoft's hosting architectures and their hardware and software platforms? What are telcos' priorities with respect to their NGN? What expectations do multinationals have in terms of the future shape of their networks and business services? What of the involvement of local authorities and municipalities in equipping their jurisdictions?

How does internet governance work and how is it likely to evolve (web roots, setting standards)? How to measure the dangers of internet crashes and piracy? How are Web 2.0 phenomena (blogs, UGC, etc.) which currently dominate internet applications and consumption likely to evolve? Will we see the widespread use of efficient DRM systems?

Up to what point are users, in reality, indifferent to internet companies' identification and browsing tracking practices?

About IDATE

Founded in 1977, IDATE is one of Europe's foremost market analysis and consulting firms, whose mission is to provide assistance in strategic decision-making for its clients in the Telecom, Internet and Media industries. Under the guidance of our President, Francis Lorentz, and our CEO, Yves Gassot, the centre has a staff of over 60. IDATE has also been instrumental in providing a forum for debate between the markets' key players, notably thanks to the IDATE Foundation, the DigiWorld Summit and the Communications & Strategies economic journal.

Consulting
IDATE has established its credibility and independence in conducting consultancy and study assignments on behalf of its clients: Market research: techno-economic monitoring, modelling and forecasts, sector-specific analysis, surveys International benchmarking: positioning studies, competition analysis Strategic marketing: assistance in launching new services, business planning, partnership Public policies: public policy definition and assessment, socio-economic impact, project management, regulatory benchmarking

Research
IDATE's clients benefit from the knowledge and expertise of its teams of specialists, and from its ongoing investment in its Digiworld information and strategic monitoring system - a veritable digital world observatory.

For 30 years now, the DigiWorld Summit has been a key annual event for members of the ICT and media industries, and has become one of the largest conferences in Europe focused on analysis, debate and market forecasts.

For more information on the DigiWorld Summit 2007, www.digiworldsummit.com For more information on IDATE activities: www.idate.org Press liaison: Presse & Technologies: Philippe Grand, pgrand@pressetech.fror Emmanuelle Renauld,
erenauld@pressetech.fr Tel: 01 56 56 64 57 or IDATE: Jean-Dominique Seval, jdseval@idate.org Tel: 04 67 14 44 07