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For the first time ever, a World AIDS Conference will broadcast both the venue and presentations over the Internet, allowing participants who cannot afford to attend to benefit

Nine Servers, 17 km of Cable and a Coffee Maker
Geneva, SWITZERLAND. -- In a large bowl (100,000 square metres of space at Palexpo), place 250 computers. Add 17 kilometres of UTP network and fibre optic cable, 10 switches, 60 hubs, 10 live Internet cameras and 70 printers. Mix with 90 staff persons and more than 10,000 Delegates from all over the world. Season with 15,000 Internet mailboxes and stir very, very carefully.

Sound like a recipe for disaster? Not likely.

NO PLACE MORE APPROPRIATE
Switzerland's CERN Research Centre was the birthplace of the World Wide Web and its early development.  Palexpo is also the site for the upcoming Internet Society Meeting, which will make use of the services established by the 12th World AIDS Conference.

Victor Gabriel, IT Chair and mastermind behind the IT services, describes local co-operation as the key ingredient to the success of the IT project: "We set out to accomplish a task which has not been attempted before, anywhere. With the help of the Canton de Genève, the University, and Switch, what was a dream two years ago is now very much a reality."

It is possible to see the Conference right now.

· by making the Programme available on the Internet ahead of the Conference

· by including search engines and software to build individualised programmes (the Itinerary Builder)

· by equipping the Conference site with more than 250 computers;

· by creating an Internet-based message system with separate accounts for each participant that can also be used for E-mail

· by providing abstracts on CDs for easy search capability

· by offering an updated CD with Conference presentations

· and by putting many sessions available on the Internet within hours of presentation (the "Webcast").

On behalf of the Conference, I offer my commendations to the IT staff for a job well done. As a result of two years of inspired efforts of all involved, the 12th World AIDS Conference promises to be one of the largest and most technologically advanced international Conferences ever organised.

 
Bernard Hirschel
Conference Chair

AIDS TV: A BRIEF LOOK AT WHAT'S AVAILABLE

Webcast	RECORDED CAMERAS - now available! For the first time ever, videotaped presentations from the international AIDS Conference are available over the internet to patients, healthcare professionals and anyone involved in the treatment and care of patients with HIV and AIDS. The Webcast will feature audio-visual recordings of between 30 and 50 presentations from each day of the Conference available within 8 hours of their actual occurrence. Summaries are made available by 02:00 hours, local Geneva time, on the following morning.
Live from Palexpo!	LIVE CAMERAS - now available! Seven still cameras are installed at strategic locations throughout the Palexpo venue, giving participants and visitors alike a feel of what building one of the largest Conferences in the world is like. During the actual Conference, interviews and flashes from the Palexpo Halls will be broadcast to the public outside Palexpo. To get here from there, click ...live from Palexpo above
	General view Hall 4 (Main Tree) General view Hall 5 (NGO exhibitions)	Speaker's Centre Main arena IT Configuration Centre