IEC's Broadband World Forum Europe 2006 and Paris Expo Awarded "Best in Congress" KRéA Award

CHICAGO – March 8, 2007 – The International Engineering Consortium's (IEC's) Broadband World Forum Europe 2006 was recently awarded the KRéA Award's "Best in Congress" title with Paris Expo, whose CNIT La Défense housed the global telecommunications event in Paris last year.

Established in partnership with ANAé (Association of event communication agencies), the KRéA awards recognize the creativity and expertise of professionals in the business tourism and event industry. The awards ceremony took place in Paris at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles recently during the Bedouk MC&IT Exhibition.

IEC President John Janowiak stated, "We are pleased to receive this honor with Paris Expo. The Paris Expo CNIT La Défense facilities helped us host our international broadband event in Paris with nearly 6,500 delegates from over 120 countries. The venue accommodated our global conference and exhibition, which included more than 110 equipment vendors on the exhibition floor and more than 250 leading industry experts who spoke in nearly 70 sessions."

The IEC took up the Paris Expo CNIT La Défense's 10,000 square meters of exhibition space, used 33 break-out rooms as well as three auditoriums.

Seventy tutorials, panels, and sessions addressed issues such as broadband content delivery, content protection for converged services, next-generation broadband wireless advances, emerging mobile context for broadband content, service-led transformation, fixed mobile broadband, end-to-end IPTV, Ethernet as emerging technology, 3G solutions and integration, market assessment in Europe, and much more.

Key sponsors of the Broadband World Forum Europe presented leading-edge technologies on the exhibition such as France Telecom (official host sponsor), Alcatel, Siemens, Accenture, Ericsson, Huawei, Cisco Systems, ECI, Italtel, Keymile, Motorola, NEC, PacketFront, ZTE, ADVA, AVM, Nokia, Pirelli, Tellabs, Visionael, Texas Instruments, Operax, Radialpoint, Redback Networks, and more.

Nearly 300 industry journalists and analysts covered breaking news and product announcements that took place at the Broadband World Forum Europe.

For more information contact Lisa Reyes at lreyes@iec.org or +1-312-559-3325.

About the KRéA Awards
The KRéA Awards, the first awards program dedicated to event communication, was established in partnership with ANAé (the national association of event communication agencies in France) to recognize the creativity and expertise of professionals in the global business tourism and event industry.

The KRéA Awards program recognized the best events that took place in all of France in 2006. The five categories included: the “Internal convention” category (employee meetings), the “Special event” category (one-day events), the “Incentive program” category (tourism promotions), the “Congress program” category (professional events) and the “Large-scale event” category (public events). Winners were judged by an independent panel of top meetings executives in various fields of the industry.

Translated from French, the KRéA name formed form a blend of “creation” and “creativity,” critical elements in effective communications. The KRéA name also originated from the Bédouk and ANAé brands, the award creators. The awards ceremony took place in Paris at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles during the Bedouk MC&IT Exhibition on January 24, 2007.

About Paris Expo
A group created in 2001, Paris Expo has since become the French leader of congress and exhibition space with seven Parisian venues, including the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Paris Expo Espace Champerret, Paris Expo Cnit La Defense, Paris Expo Cœur Defense, Paris Expo Carrousel du Louvre, Paris Expo Espace Grande Arche and Palais des Sports. These venues amount to a total of 300,000 m^² hosting an average of 800 events for its 7.2 million visitors yearly. For more information, visit www.paris-expo.fr or contact Anne Marie Narboni, Paris Expo PR Office - Livemedia at annemarie@livemedia.fr.

About the IEC
A nonprofit organization, the IEC is 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 a 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. Visit www.iec.org.