New COMDEX/Fall Hot Spots Sponsored by HomeRF Working Group, HomeToys.com, International Biometrics Group and Symantec

New this year, the COMDEX Hot Spot program will blend several critical technology subjects and demonstrations with exhibitor-provided education sessions on the show floor of COMDEX/Fall ‘99. These exhibit areas will focus on such topics as home and small business networking, wireless communications, security and biometrics. COMDEX/Fall ’99 will celebrate its 20th anniversary in Las Vegas this November 15-19, 1999, at the expanded Las Vegas Convention Center, Sands Expo and Conference Center and the Las Vegas Hilton.

Home networking is one of the hottest areas of computing today. Technology is in use in homes and small businesses everywhere – from offices to retail stores to manufacturing plants – and installation and networking concerns have helped create a new category of products. At the Digital Home Networking Hot Spot, sponsored by the HomeRF Working Group and HomeToys.com, attendees can view the technology that allows products to talk to each other and share collective multimedia resources such as full-motion video, CD-quality audio, voice and data. The showcased technologies include those used in the products of HomeRF association members, and based on evolving open wireless networking standards.

The Security Hot Spot will entail a multi-vendor technology demonstration, focusing on the latest in security technologies that include firewall, VPN, encryption/authentication, biometric and content security. In this area on the exhibit floor, COMDEX attendees will gain an in-depth education about cutting-edge issues surrounding security. As a special bonus, Symantec will address content security, including anti-virus, mobile code Internet access control and email content scanning, in this exhibit.

Biometrics products are in the media headlines weekly, and they are not just futuristic and sci-fi anymore. To spotlight this technology, COMDEX has teamed-up with the International Biometrics Group to bring some of the hottest biometrics products and services to this year’s exhibit floor in the COMDEX/IBG Biometrics Hot Spot. In this special exhibit area, attendees can take part in hands-on comparisons of the leading voice verification, face and hand geometry, dynamic signature verification and eye biometric/retinal systems. IriScan and ScanTech, two of the leading companies in biometrics today, are among those set to exhibit.

Wireless and mobile computing systems are one of the hottest subjects in IT today, especially with the improved freedom made possible by information appliances, such as PDAs. DiscoverITSM and COMDEX will team to demonstrate mobile and wireless solutions in the COMDEX/DiscoverITSM Mobile and Wireless Showcase. Within this exhibit area, DiscoverITSM will also offer educational kiosks which provide an overview of the technologies, products and services which comprise wireless computing solutions.

COMDEX/Fall ’99 will celebrate its 20th anniversary in Las Vegas this November 15-19, 1999. Each year, COMDEX/Fall presents the world’s largest and most influential IT event. This year’s event will focus on technology for the new e-conomy, and host more than 2,000 exhibiting companies, thousands of product launches and 200,000 resellers, IT professionals, developers and corporate managers. Co-located with COMDEX/Fall ‘99 will be the debut of Linux Business Expo, a forum for business managers and IT professionals to learn more about making an enterprise investment in Linux. More information on Linux Business Expo is available at www.linuxbizexpo.com.

For more information on COMDEX/Fall ‘99, visit www.comdex.com or contact Amy Groden, ZD Events, at 781/433-1765. To obtain a media registration form visit http://www.zdevents.com/registration/mediareg.html

The ZD Events subsidiary of Ziff-Davis is the world’s leading producer of information technology tradeshows and conferences, serving over 5,000 exhibiting companies and two million attendees through 59 events in 18 countries. ZD Events’ products range from the IT industry’s largest exhibitions such as COMDEX and NetWorld+Interop, to highly focused events featuring renowned educational programs, custom seminars and specialized vendor marketing programs. For more information on ZD Events, visit http://www.zdevents.com.

Ziff-Davis Inc. is a leading media and marketing company focused on computing and Internet-related technologies, with principal platforms in print publishing, trade shows and conferences, online content, television, market research and education. Ziff-Davis provides global technology companies with marketing strategies for reaching key decision-makers. Ziff-Davis has two series of common stock: one which is intended to track the performance of its Internet business ZDNet, and one which is intended to track the performance of the ZD Group, which includes print publishing, trade shows and conferences, education, market research and television businesses and an 83% retained interest in ZDNet.

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