CyberMedia JV with Expomedia
Dec 1, 2005

Expomedia Group PLC, a leading London based business to business media group, with an illustrious history in the exhibition organising industry and whose portfolio of businesses include venue management, conferences and publications and CyberMedia, South Asia's first and largest specialty media house today announced the signing of a 10-year joint venture agreement. The agreement would see the two organizations collaborating on the organisation of new International events in the ICT and Life Sciences arena. Gartner estimates that the Internet Communications Technology spending in India will surpass US $54.8 billion by 2008, a rise from US $29.5 billion in 2004 and India continues to have the fastest growing ICT market in the world, with a CAGR of 19 percent from 2004 through 2008.

Given this growth, Events would be a critical platform and communication channel for bringing key vendors and users together. Some of the events organized under this venture would include ‘The Internet Communications Technology Show’ and the ‘Life Sciences Event’ both due to take place at the newly opened EXPO XXI Centre at the National Capital Region of New Delhi, an emerging ICT hub, in the autumn of 2006.

CyberMedia’s Event business, established 16 years ago, currently organizes over 100 annual events in large and mid sized Indian cities. These events leverage its strength in the technology and life sciences space across its media and media services businesses. It has pioneered the growth of IT Events in India and has been responsible for organizing and managing large and well-known events like Bangalore IT.In (earlier Bangalore IT.Com), IT-Kerala, Hi-Tech Pune etc. Expomedia Group Plc organizes over 100 exhibitions worldwide and with its network of international offices in over 10 countries and an international client base of over 8,000, is ideally placed to provide the international audience reach to the events it organises in each of its markets.

The joint venture, the first and only one of its kind in the Indian events landscape, brings together synergies of the international relationships, which Expomedia enjoys across countries, and CyberMedia’s strong foothold in the Indian market. These client relationships would be leveraged to deliver value in these events to both sponsors and visitors.

“We are delighted to have embarked on this agreement with Expomedia,” says Mr Pradeep Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director CyberMedia.  “Their experience and international network of offices will enable us to significantly expand the scope of our events, bringing added benefits to both exhibitors and visitors and securing the events’ positions in the market place.”
Mark Shashoua, Chief Executive Expomedia adds, “By collaborating with such a well established and experienced Indian organiser such as Cyber Media on a series of successful events, we are significantly expanding our portfolio of events in India.  This is an incredibly exciting time for both the ICT Sector and the exhibition industry and we look forward to a successful future together.”

The joint venture agreement was signed at CyberMedia’s Corporate Office in Gurgaon, India on 29th November 2005 by Mr. Mark Shashoua, CEO of Expomedia Group plc and Mr. K K Tulshan, Executive Director, Cyber Media Events Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of Cyber Media (India) Ltd.

About CyberMedia
CyberMedia is South Asia's first and largest specialty media house, with eleven publications (including Dataquest and PCQuest) in the infotech, telecom, consumer electronics and biotech areas; and a media value chain including the internet (www.ciol.com), events and television. The group's media services include market research (IDC India), job board (CyberMedia Dice), content outsourcing, multimedia, and media education. www.cybermedia.co.in

About Expomedia Group Plc
Expomedia Group Plc is a London based business to business media group with interests in exhibitions, conferences, venue management and related publishing.  It develops and manages the chain of state-of-the-art exhibition and conference centres, EXPO XXI International Expocentres, across key markets and provides event organising services to international companies wishing to enter these markets, through its exhibition organising division, Expomedia Events.  It also organises a wide range of conferences in its core markets through its Infor-media conference division.  The Group currently offers venues and exhibition and conference organising services in Poland, Russia, India, Germany, The Netherlands, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro and Morocco.  Expomedia Group has publishing interests through its subsidiary Mash Media Group Ltd, publishers of Exhibition Bulletin, Exhibition News, Exhibition World and Conference News amongst others.  www.expomediagroup.com