Following record attendances and a highly-acclaimed success at its 21st Century Communications World Forum last week in London, the IEC (International Engineering Consortium) is expanding the depth of its educational content at next year's C5 World Forum (Customer-Centric Converged Communication and Content) in Milan, Italy (March 26-29). The show, at which Telecom Italia is already confirmed as the host sponsor, will major on converged networks, customer content-based applications and mobile and fixed IP-based technologies in response to growing interest in these sectors.

Last week's London event, which had education programming and exhibits on converged networks, IMS, and the latest broadband services available to telecom service providers, drew more than 3,000 ICT professionals to attend.

IEC President, John Janowiak commented, "The IEC prides itself in bringing the most sought after and desired information in the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) industry. We look forward to continuing and expanding the delivery of this valuable content with the
C5 World Forum."

Exemplifying the industry demand for the leading-edge content, more than 80 percent of the expanded exhibit space at next year's C5 World Forum pre-sold before last week's conference.

The event received a strong representation from industry-leading companies such as BT (official host sponsor), Ericsson (ERICY), Huawei, Siemens (SI), Fujitsu (FJTSY), Alcatel (ALA), Cisco Systems (CSCO), ECI (ECIL), Lucent (LU), ADVA (ADVOF), Agere Systems (AGR), CIRPACK, Intel (INTC), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Keymile, Nokia (NOK), Tellabs (TLAB), Operax, Redback Networks (RBAK), IBM (IBM), and ZTE Corporation (ZTCOF) that exhibited and sponsored the show.

In addition, over 200 industry experts shared their knowledge including:

* Conference Chairman Mr. Matt Bross, Group Chief Technology
Officer, BT
* Sir David Brown, Chairman, Motorola Ltd.
* Hakan Eriksson, Senior Vice President and General Manager,
Research and Development and Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson
* Thomas Ganswindt, Member of the Corporate Executive Committee,
Siemens
* John Giere, Chief Marketing Officer, Lucent Technologies
* Tadanobu Okada, Senior Vice President, Executive Director,
Information Sharing Laboratory Group, NTT
* Alan Mottram, Chief Marketing Officer, Alcatel
* Paul Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer, BT
* Marc Rotthier, Vice President and General Manager, Network and
Service Provider Business Unit, Hewlett-Packard Company
* Andy Stevenson, Chief Executive Officer, Fujitsu
Telecommunications, Europe
* Berit Svendsen, Executive Vice President, Technology, and Chief
Technology Officer, Telenor ASA
* Mika Vehvilainen, Senior Vice President, Core Networks, Nokia
* Jin Wang, Vice President, Head of European Marketing, Huawei
Technologies

The IEC also premiered the IMS Global ComForum last week at the 21st Century Communications World Forum, revealing the latest IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) research and developments by leading industry information experts.

As service providers compete in an increasingly competitive environment, forcing them to migrate from a voice world to a multimedia applications space including voice, video, data, and wireless (quadruple play), educational events such as the 21st Century Communications World Forum, the C5 World Forum, Broadband World Forum Europe, Broadband World Forum Asia, and Broadband World Forum Americas have proven to be of paramount importance to communications professionals.

The IEC also awarded speakers BT Group Chief Technology Officer, Mr.
Mick Reeve, and Mitel Chairman, Sir Terry Matthews with its Fellow Award last week during the show, which recognizes those who have made outstanding contributions to the information industry.

For more information on the 21st Century Communications World Forum or the C5 World Forum, visit http://www.iec.org/events/2006/21/ or contact Lisa Ann Reyes at or .

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About the 21st Century Communications World Forum 2006 The 21st Century Communications World Forum 2006 analyzed the business and technology requirements for making convergent IP communications a reality in today's world on a carrier scale. In 2005, the inaugural 21st Century Communications World Forum drew more than 2,000 registrants eager to discuss the latest advances in the move toward customer-centric information and communications technologies. The 21st Century Communications World Forum has been renamed to the C5 World Forum (Customer-Centric Converged Communication and Content), which will take place in the Fiera Milano Congressi in Milan, Italy, from 26-29 March 2007. Telecom Italia will be the forum's official host sponsor. Visit http://www.iec.org/events/2007/c5/index.html.

About the IEC
The International Engineering Consortium (IEC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to catalyzing technology and business progress worldwide in a range of high-technology industries and their university communities. Since 1944, the IEC has provided high-quality educational opportunities for industry professionals, academics, and students.

In conjunction with industry-leading companies, the IEC has developed an extensive, free on-line educational program. The IEC conducts industry-university programs that have substantial impact on curricula.
It also conducts research and develops publications, conferences, and technological exhibits that address major opportunities and challenges of the information age.

More than 70 leading high-technology universities are IEC affiliates, and the IEC handles the affairs of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association and Eta Kappa Nu, the honor society for electrical and computer engineers. The IEC also manages the activities of the Enterprise Communications Consortium. For more information, please visit http://www.iec.org.