An Americans Impression Of "The Expo"
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IT Expo

There were moments when I thought I was traveling down an Interstate in the USA. The countryside was green with rolling hills. The trucks were belching out a little more diesel smoke than the USA but even with that I felt so close to home that I got a little homesick.

Then when I turned into Electronics City I had the same feeling again. The Hi-tech industrial park 15 miles SE of Bangalore, India had a resemblance to similar parks that I am familiar with in Oakbrook Illinois just outside of Chicago. Each company has a building on several acres of nicely landscaped land.

I drove by 3M but could only see the security gate as the building was set back and protected from view by bushes. The Siemens building was different could be seen from a half mile away because it is white and at least seven stories high.

I was expecting to arrive at the EXPO and find hundreds of fellow foreigners who had flocked to Bangalore to learn more about the software boom in Bangalore. What I found were a lot of people that flocked to the EXPO but they were all Indians. I only saw six to eight foreigners all day!

The setting was an open piece of land that had been converted to a hi-tech expo. The ground was covered with nice red hemp carpet and the eight-ten buildings were like temporary airplane hangars complete with air conditioning!

I went into the first building and soon realized that it was going to be an interesting time. The people at each booth were exceptionally friendly. I would never get the kind of treatment I was receiving back home! I guess being a minority here has some advantages. Perhaps I am naïve and the people were just looking at me as a connection to an American company but I choose to believe they were just plain good friendly hospitable Indians.

Since I wanted to get some interviews and photos for this website I started asking questions. That is when the fun really began. It did not take too much to get a small crowd gathered as I did interviews. Maybe I looked like I was from the Wall Street Journal!

I think I caught a little of the pulse of the IT boom in Bangalore. You can read some of the responses at the Software Trends in India pages on this site. My impression is that there really is a boom. There were some older software companies represented and many new startups. Overall they all seemed well informed, experienced and very capable.

As I approached one booth I notice a lot of activity and a TV crew setting up to do an interview. As a boy I chased fire trucks so of course I wanted to see what the excitement was all about. The booth was announcing a new School Site Builder product. The product is promoted as an easy to use customizable solution for creating an interactive school website. I took a photo and immediately got scolded for using a flash!

Later in the day I wanted to see if this booth would still be crowded after the camera crew had gone. And yes, there was much more activity here than at the surrounding booths. What does that tell me? I'm not sure but I know that Indians are education crazy. They want to learn, especially if it has to do with software development. But perhaps people were visiting the booth because they were interested in providing training and developing courses online or perhaps because there were few other booths with online course products. Oh well, we must move on to the next stop.

One thing that surprised me was the number of 18-25 year olds who were searching for information on training. It seems like everyone wants to learn how to program software or develop web pages! The demand was evidenced by the large number of booths offering training and the mobs of young people inquiring at these booths.

The other thing that struck me was the number of young women who were there. I had thought software development in Bangalore was a man's job. Perhaps this boom will be a big advancement for Indian women.

All the big guys were there: Motorola, Microsoft, Oracle and others. This did not surprise me but the enthusiasm at the Linux booth did. There were about 30-50 zealous volunteers attending the large display. Apparently Linux is a good option for those company and government agencies who do not, or cannot, spend the money for Microsoft products.

With a cheap version of Linux and a freeware version of Sun's office suite, you're all set up and ready to go! I admit I like this option especially for a country like India where the cost of Microsoft products seems high.

Six hours later and I am not too tired to talk and walk. I told the people at the end of the show that they should be selling those foot massage devices rather than software! Oh, did you know that the flow of traffic at an expo like this moves opposite to that of the USA? I think it is because they drive on the left side here. I even go up stairs on the left so that people pass on my right! You had to work your way through this whole article to get that piece of information!

So the day is over and I head home to my family. We live about one hour from the Expo. Overall it was a great day! I came away affirmed in my belief that India and Bangalore have a bright future. The people are hardworking, bright and friendly. What more can you ask?

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