Record number of visitors attend Bechtle's technology fair.

• Mobility, security and virtualisation in high demand.
• Over 50 exhibition stands and 70 technical lectures.
• More than 150 Bechtle specialists advise customers.

Neckarsulm, 02 April 2012 – For the eighth time now, Bechtle hosted the Competence Center Days in Neckarsulm from 27 to 29 March 2012—this year with the motto "IT Takes a Team". During the three days of exhibitions, over 2,000 customers, manufacturers, partners and employees learned about current IT developments and solutions.

Held in Bechtle's headquarters at Bechtle Platz 1 in Neckarsulm, this technology fair has established itself as an ideal information platform for IT decision-makers. The wide variety of topics covered ranges from servers & storage, virtualisation, Bechtle Managed Services, client management, software, IT security and networking solutions to training. More than 150 highly qualified Bechtle employees answered customers' questions. Visitors showed great interest in mobile device management and related IT challenges. Aspects of cloud computing, such as virtualisation and storage concepts, were also a focus of the CC Days. “The topics we covered clearly met our customers' expectations. At the same time, we managed to once again demonstrate the broad range of services Bechtle offers, including current trends, in a compact, practically relevant manner,” says Gerhard Marz. The head of Bechtle's public sector division was very pleased with the development of the Competence Center Days: “The incentive to return was obviously very high. Many visitors to the Competence Center Days 2012 have already attended our technology fair several times. Added to the first-time visitors, this explains why attendance was even higher than last year.”

Consolidated software portfolio.

For the first time, Bechtle presented an integrated IT solution including all business processes. The Bechtle PLM integrates software products for CRM, ERP, document management systems and business intelligence to optimise processes, just as the Bechtle Group's recently acquired SharePoint specialists, HanseVision and Redmond Integrators, or the CAD and PDM experts from SolidLine and SolidPro, work together for improved performance. The goal was to present an integrated, working document flow as a complete unit. Another highlight of the fair was VMware's innovative “Horizon”. This is the forward-thinking approach users and IT managers have been waiting for: users can choose terminal devices freely, and applications are provided through browsers. The users' other requirements are met using virtual servers and storage from the cloud.

Technical lectures draw crowds.

Many of the technical lectures had full houses. The most heavily attended lecture was the introduction to mobile device management with Apple, Android, BlackBerry, etc. This lecture addressed the question of how businesses can securely integrate smartphones and tablet PCs into their businesses while ensuring compliance with company policies. Andreas Wilker, managing director of Bechtle's IT system house in Neckarsulm: “In addition to major IT topics, mobile device management is a particular concern for our customers. The main issues business and public sector IT managers grapple with are how to efficiently manage mobile devices and securely integrate them into business infrastructures, and how to plan for potential lost devices.”

Sports meets business.

In keeping with the motto “IT Takes a Team,” Marco Bode, European champion, World Cup finalist and long-time professional football player for Werder Bremen, held a guest lecture on using football as a model for business. Marco Bode, now managing director of the marketing agency deepblue sports, and business coach Thomas Stammwitz explained what it takes to build a winning team. In both football and business, your team has to be on the same page. But more than that, it's our attitude that determines whether we succeed, since it shapes our behaviour and what we achieve. According to the lecture, people who have the courage to take risks and push boundaries for the sake of progress are more successful.

Michael Guschlbauer, COO of IT System House & Managed Services at Bechtle AG:

“At the Competence Center Days, we show the range of expert services Bechtle offers, combined with the innovations and technologies which our partner manufacturers have introduced to the market with great success. We were also able to present our visitors with live demos which showed practical applications for many of our topics.”