I was at CeBIT in Hannover last week. Apart from the fact that my feet very rapidly reminded me of why, in the past, I resolved never to go again, it was an interesting experience.  I was moderating a panel on the business value of Virtual Worlds (more of which in a later post) but had the opportunity to work my way round some of the stands looking for interesting new developments. I didn’t find a lot I have to admit.

What I did find was a half empty hall devoted to “Green IT” (maybe NOT being there was the greenest strategy!) and another hall simply overflowing with cooling devices for CPUs. Water cooling, forced air cooling, you name it they had it.  It seems that when it comes to “sweating your assets” CPUs are having a hard time of it these days. I’m not sure what this contrasting set of exhibits says about the state of the industry today, but it seems we still cannot get enough horsepower.

Nick is right, scanning the news sites there are numerous conundrums and apparent contradictions. Leaving aside the inevitable speculation about Steve Jobs’ health (he has now been elevated to the status of “National Treasure” by Maggie Shiels, the BBC’s technology reporter based in Silicon Valley) there is a big row brewing over the decision to build a third runway at London’s Heathrow airport. Without wishing to get into the politics of the decision, it does seem somewhat at odds with the heavy and increasing emphasis we see on environmental issues – one of the recurrent themes of CES for example. 

Over the past couple of days (and throughout the night (at least the night in my part of the world!)) we have been running a series of online research meetings here at Gartner, something that in previous years we have done face to face at some central location. Like many companies we are examining the real need for travel and investigating the potential of technology to substitute for travel. Whilst face to face meetings will not go away, it seems clear that the current economic conditions are going to cause organisations and individuals to change their behaviour. The end result is likely to be a reduction, at least for a period of time, in international travel for business purposes, which kind of undermines the decision to build a new runway!

It would be interesting to hear from anyone the extent to which their travel is being impacted by the current conditions and what steps they are taking, and technologies they might now be considering, to replace the need. I look forward to some feedback!