As the doors close and all the exhibitors leave the marketplace, show organiser Deutsche Messe shows a fresh sense of optimism. If the show's greening format will help the show to get back on its feet wasn't said by the organisation. The whole show generated a great deal of enthusiasm for the future of the industry, but it was mainly targeted to managers and companies.

With 5,845 companies on the exhibitor list and 495,000 visitors the Deutsche Messe thinks CeBIT 2008 was a succes. 'The new CeBIT format has succeeded across the board, drawing an enthusiastic response from visitors and exhibitors alike,' said Ernst Raue, managing board member at Deutsche Messe. 'This six-day event has generated a fresh sense of optimism and a premonition of great things ahead in the global IT industry.'

Raue said that this year's show had returned to the 'days of euphoria' in the technology industry. The managing board member mainly focuses on the succesful opening ceremony with Merkel and Sarkozy, followed by a charity run at the midway point and a long weekend to cap it off. With these being the positives we like to call the negatives...

With CeBIT more and more becoming a business playground many manufacturers deside not to announce anything new. Consumer targeted events like the CES in Las Vegas are known because of their large amount of announcements and releases. Organisations like Greenpeace said that CeBIT's greening concept wasn't good enough and some exhibitors got robbed at night.

We understand that the Deutsche Messe is happy with their result, but we also hope that CeBIT will become a more consumer friendly exhibition and not just a business playground.