CTIA WIRELESS 2009 is the largest and most comprehensive US tradeshow in the wireless industry, so it should be a prime show for the RF/microwave industry. It is the convergence of more than 1,200 exhibiting companies, dozens of industries, and over 40,000 professionals from 125 countries all working toward the common goal of promoting wireless. It is the premier venue to exchange ideas, create partnerships and collaborate on wireless telecommunications, and the RF and microwave industry is a key contributor to most of the technologies involved. However, many of the component and smaller RF/microwave companies have left the show over the years as they seemed to get lost in the consumer glamour of the big handset manufacturers like LG, Motorola, Samsung, Apple, Sony/Ericsson, etc., not to mention the service providers and applications suppliers.

But what better place to network, meet with customers and show off new RF/microwave technologies than at the show where most of the wireless OEMs exhibit. What if all of the component and smaller RF/microwave related companies were in one concentrated area so that they could raise a significant presence and not be lost among all of the enormous booths of the big conglomerates? Let’s bring back the RF/microwave industry content!

With this in mind, Microwave Journal has organized the first RF/Microwave Pavilion at CTIA Wireless 2009. This new pavilion will congregate companies in the RF/microwave field in one location to create a dynamic presence. By showcasing in one dedicated area, the pavilion will be the focal point at the show for RF/microwave technology. This offers RF/microwave companies a low cost avenue to return to CTIA and not be lost in the sea of the larger OEMs and providers plus make their presence count at this large show. The small investment to attend such a large show with all of the important OEMs on site should provide a high ROI and customers will know where to find them.

Along with interaction with the OEMs, the RF/microwave companies get the rare chance to interact with the carriers and end consumers to see which features they really need or desire and be able to translate those back into their designs. Meeting with your customer and your customer’s customer can often give keen insight into future developments. From a business perspective, the OEM and consumer confidence levels and economic state can be a leading indicator of the level of future business for RF/microwave companies. There is a very large international audience with representatives from over 125 companies, so there are chances to view the global state of the business and discuss partnerships/opportunities with companies from around the world. We often hear from exhibitors at RF/microwave industry specific shows that they are not very successful from a business perspective because the audience is primarily their competitors so only the technical portion is worthwhile. Shows like CTIA Wireless offer exposure to new customers and industries without spending most of your time talking to your peers and competitors.

The RF/Microwave Pavilion will be located on a main aisle near the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Zone that features exhibitors with pioneering wireless M2M services and products. M2M solutions include wireless remote control and monitoring of fixed and mobile devices for enterprise and consumer markets so it compliments the RF/Microwave Pavilion offering. It also hosts seminars and presentations on Asset Tracking, Sustainable M2M Investments and Open Wireless Initiatives that will be interesting to many in the RF/microwave audience and attract visitors. Perhaps a similar seminar series can be added to the RF/Microwave Pavilion in 2010.

CTIA Wireless has educational seminars and forums for the business and technical visitor offering such items as the Broadband World Forum Unwired, Tower Technology Summit, Wireless University, Mobile Entertainment, Green Telecom Summit, Mobile Marketing/Advertising, Path to 4G, IP Backhaul, etc. There will be many discussions about WiMAX versus LTE this year and the resurgence of microwave backhaul. Not to mention a high power keynote speaker, the honorable Al Gore, and top notch entertainment such as Billy Crystal.

We hope that the RF/Microwave Pavilion will increase the relevancy of the RF/microwave industry to CTIA Wireless and revive the RF/microwave industry’s return to the event. This will give us a louder voice to influence the industry direction and objectives while providing the exhibiting companies a valuable venue to meet customers, network and form partnerships (find more information at www.mwjournal.com/Events/).