ANGA Cable - Cologne, May 31 - June 2, 2005
Germany is winning the battle of England. Only a few years ago it seemed that the best trade fair for cable, satellite and multimedia would be held in London, England, but about two years ago one couldn't help noticing the Mediacast losing its position in the international ranking. One after another, the exhibitors of the London show had been dropping out, which made this year's Mediacast appear in its slimmed down version. Anga, which has only a five-year history, is becoming the largest European meeting for the cable, satellite and multimedia sector.
The exhibition grounds are the fourth largest in Europe with respect to their size, but the whole deal is not about the size. In the middle of Europe, Cologne's location is ideal for this type of event.
Review of showcases
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Braun teleCom demonstrated an Internet distribution system in the CATV and xDSL network wiring. The entire system is based on transmitting Ethernet and TV signals on the same caoxial cable. The company manufactures special TV/RJ-45 sockets.
The new multiswitches from Ankaro recognize an umarked wire (coming from another cascaded multiswitch) and the input they should be connected to. That expedites the installation process in case of large systems and makes a technician's work easier.
Internal structure of the multiswitch from Ankaro
Cabelcon, which was bought a few years ago by Corning, demonstrated - similarly to several other companies - compression connectors, which are 100% watertight. Unfortunately, technicians using them must purchase a special compression tool and spend about 50% more on this product.
This is the way of dealing with some dishonest subscribers. Manageable and addressable antenna sockets and splitters. Central command unit allows to disconnect any socket, according to a previously programmed timetable, and to connect any socket back to the system (choosing one of the five packeting levels), therefore guaranteeing the full settlement of a customer's account.
The "big guys" at Anga: CommScope, Pace, Scientific Atlanta, Cisco.
The Inverto converters and Lemon tuners are brand-names of the German company called FTA.
IDL7000PVR belongs to the class of digital recorders equipped with a dual SAT tuner and it can be connected to a PC via a USB 2.0 port.
Signal level measurement, SNR, SSID identification, channel search and a spectrum analyzer are the features of PROFI-70 made by PROMAX - the basic instrument of every WLAN technician. (available in 2 months and 1600 EUR).
LW-46G15 belongs to the LCD class of TV's from Samsunga, of course, with the resolution of 1920 x 1090, meaning HDTV. It comes with digital connectors: DVI and HDMI (a new standard in the digital AV transmission).
ADB Polish tycoon of the "intelligent tuners" branch, is broadening its product assortment with equipment based on the MHP platform. ADB-3100TW is an integrated machine combining a SAT receiver and a Video over IP. The features like 128 MB RAM, 64MB flash EEPROM, FireFox browser speak for themselves. The device comes with the IF and RJ-45 sockets. It is capable of playing films coded in MPEG-2 and 4 at the of 1.5 and 4 Mbit/s.
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Bedea showed a station for the advanced measurement of parameters of both connectors and cables.
Telewire demonstrated a new line of multiswitches that are directly connected via properly insulated coaxial cables.
Alcad demonstrated the new user-programmable converters, which will soon go into production together with a new line of amplifiers. They can be integrated with stations of the 912 series.
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Terra presented some new elements for a main station: receivers equipped with modulators with NICAM stereo audio. Thanks to its 19" housing, build-in power supply, and programmability, the device can work independently. The new 17-input multiswitches enjoyed a great deal of attention.
The show has attracted mainly manufactures. Distribution companies, which participated in this event a few years ago, have practically disappeared. The event is definitely European, there were just few companies from the Far East, which are clearly more visible at other similar shows. The show is more specific-product oriented; there are no children running around and asking for free balloons and pens. We felt a sense of longing for bodypainting and dancing girls, which we've grown accustomed to thanks to CeBIT ;-).
Development of Key Figures since 2000
Exhibitors | Visitors | Exhibition | |
| 2000 | 94 | 1250 | 2108 |
| 2001 | 118 | 2800 | 3200 |
| 2002 | 146 | 4003 | 3500 |
| 2003 | 154 | 3876 | 4171 |
| 2004 | 215 | 6312 | 4900 |
| 2005 | 299 | 7900 | 7661 |