Basel in northern Switzerland is boosting its position as an international trade fair venue: The operators of trade shows in the city, Messe Basel, have teamed up with an American company to develop a new event dealing with information technology.

Basel in northern Switzerland is boosting its position as an international trade fair venue: The operators of trade shows in the city, Messe Basel, have teamed up with an American company to develop a new event dealing with information technology.

The fair will build on the highly successful Orbit exhibition of information and technology, which this year attracted more than 100,000 visitors.

The agreement between Messe Basel and ZD Events -- a subsidiary of the American media and marketing company Ziff-Davis -- brings a new brand name to Basel.

COMDEX/Orbit Europe will take place in Basel from September 26 - 29. The organisers anticipate it will attract the largest and most highly-qualified audience of IT business decision-makers of any such event in Europe.

The event will profit from Ziff-Davis’s worldwide sales and marketing network and is expected to be the largest COMDEX-branded event in the world after COMDEX/Fall in Las Vegas, which pulled in 200,000 people this year.

“This strategic alliance with the leading brand in IT events will enable us to grow Orbit into the leading international business-to-business IT event in Europe, and will simultaneously reinforce the central role that Basel plays in Europe,“ said CEO of Messe Basel, Jürg Böhni.

The exhibition and the conference at COMDEX/Orbit Europe 2000 will encompass the range of business issues, making the event a magnet for the European information technology and communications industries -- from IT professionals to developers to line-of-business management, as well as to participants in IT distribution channels.

Organisers say the event will be especially important for those who are most engaged in building the new "e-conomy" driven by the Internet.

Messe Basel is Switzerland’s leading fair and congress organiser, with a wide-spread international reputation. The main annual events are the World Watch, Clock and Jewellery Show "Basel“ and "Art Basel“, the international fair of 20th century art.

With a turnover of SFr140 million ($89 million) and over 300 employees, the Messe Basel is one of the leading fair and congress organisers in Europe.

By staff member Rob Brookes.

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