For the first time, Interact Asia Pacific Multimedia Festival held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre from 31st August - 3rd September was webcast live, putting Australia on the global Internet IT map.

The event, a focal point for the multimedia and IT industries in the Asia Pacific region combines all aspects of multimedia, information technology and telecommunications at a single venue. Interact + PC IT, the flagship event for the Festival provided 12,000 square metres of exhibition space for 35,000 business visitors with a huge range of new products.

"The show is an Australian first, featuring a fully operational live from the show for each of the four days. We see this as a natural extension. Worldwide exposure will open global business opportunities, making it even more profitable for IT&T vendors to have a presence here," said Noel Gray, Exhibition Director.

Media convergence production company, Streamworks produced the premiere edition of its new business programme Bizau.com. A custom-built studio was set on the exhibition ground to webcast the event live to a global audience.

"Although produced for the web, the programme is of international broadcast standards allowing us to release footage to cable and free to air broadcasters, " said Streamworks head, Mark Muggeridge.

Available for viewing from a dedicated content area within the Interact '99 website, http://www.interact99.com.au, features interviews with key speakers at the conferences and overviews the latest product releases at the exhibition.

After the show, the programme will be available on its own dedicated web site with regular content updates with the aim to fill the void in on demand Business and IT news for the Asia Pacific region.

Interact + PC IT '99 featured some innovative technology products including e-Matters, a credit card processing system allowing small and growing businesses to provide a virtual shop front that co-exists with an existing website through a simple plug-in.

Swe-Tech Pty Ltd displayed the C-Pen, a mobile information collector that reads, remembers, processes and transfers printed text cordlessly to a Windows equipped PC via infra-red technology.

Other new products included an award winning Internet abled consumer security system, the Microsentinel, a credit card size companion Rex which gives access to the PC organiser data without having to turn on your computer. A Y2K solution developed in Queensland, the Bugbuster data correction card that adjusts the resident operating system's time before each boot up was on show as well.

As part of the festival, various associated conferences and seminars were held. They included "IT Trends '99", "IT Venture Capital conference", "eBusiness" symposium and workshop and "Law of the Net".

Watch this space. Our next edition will carry exclusive product reviews and a look at Interact '99's conferences and seminars.