A Sneak Peek at Demo

PALM DESERT, Calif.—Sixty-eight new technologies, ranging from small-business CRM solutions to enterprise data search products, will be launched starting Jan. 30 at the Demo conference.

During the next three days, venture capitalists, journalists and technologists will watch new and established companies take the Demo stage (each for six minutes). Much is at stake: A Demo appearance is no guarantee for success, but companies including Salesforce.com, TiVO and Palm all got their start at the conference and went on to become household names.

While the show includes its share of brand-new companies, it also showcases established players such as Seagate, Adobe and Alcatel-Lucent. All follow the same rules, though: Every product that takes the stage has to make its debut at the conference.

This years conference will focus on “the empowered individual,” and on the technologies and business models that have been driven and shaped by end users, according to conference coordinators.

eWEEK Labs got an advanced look at some of the products that will make their debut at Demo, including:

• Zoho Notebook, from AdventNet, a free online collaboration application that allows users to create, edit, publish and share content via a Web browser.
• DAVE (Digital Audio Video Experience), a device from Seagate Technology designed to store, play and share digital files from mobile phones, PCs and other devices via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. DAVE will deliver from 10GB to 20GB of wireless storage and is expected to be available in the second quarter of this year.
• Integrien will debut Alive 5.5, a new version of its systems monitoring software. New features include prediction and prevention capabilities, as well as SAP integration.
• Unveiling a new way for consumers to print without ink cartridges or ribbons will be Zink Imaging. Zink will demonstrate this printing process, in which dye crystals are embedded in paper developed by Zink and activated by a special printer to create images.
• ZoomInfo will introduce PowerSearch 2007, a new version of its business search engine that crawls the Internet for business-related sites to extract information on corporations and employees.

Senior Writer Anne Chen can be reached at anne_chen@ziffdavis.com.

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