Admittedly there are still the quirky stands - this year's award for the most peculiar goes to USA New and Used which is hawking cheap US property, on the market as a result of the sub-prime crisis and resultant mortgage foreclosures. Somehow the flyers exhorting people to use their superannuation to buy US real estate seem out of kilter with the very business-technology  focussed tone of the exhibition.

And exactly what was the display of kitchen appliances doing in the huge Shenzen China marketplace?

By and large however Cebit has discovered its serious business edge and attracted high calibre demonstrations in the exhibition halls from major vendors, and leading national research organisations NICTA and CSIRO. Today it also set the scene for the long awaited launch of the national Digital Economy strategy.

According to Cebit since the event first kicked off in Australian in 2002 it has attracted almost 250,000 visitors, and was this year expected to draw crowds of more than 30,000.

This year the event has also attracted 594 exhibitors, and is drawing significant audiences to its conference streams.

However it seems to have been caught unawares by the relative interest for different conference streams. Today's cloud computing stream was held for example in a packed ballroom where it was standing room only for latecomers, while the simultaneous executive briefing conference was playing to a relatively empty auditorium.

What are Barry O'Farrell's IT plans for NSW? Read on...

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Clearly delighted at the economic boom that the event represents for NSW, Premier Barry O'Farrell in his opening address intimated that the State Government would have to invest in some new technology to update what he described as some of the 'antiquated' systems that were currently being used to run the State. He said that as part of that a new NSW portal would be constructed.

He also pointed to the possibility of using existing Government offices such as RTAs or Departments of Fair Trading as 'one stop shops' where citizens could go to interact with the State Government, although he did not say how that could be achieved or at what cost.

Mr O'Farrell also reiterated Sydney's ambitions to become a regional hub for ICT and creative industries, referring to the launch yesterday of Digital Sydney. That event however was marred by technical glitches endured by the Sydney Opera House.

Mr O'Farrell will be hoping those aren't repeated tonight when the iconic building plays host to Cebit's opening party, Germany's minister for foreign affairs, Guido Westerwelle and his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd.