
The organisers, the Computer Association of Nepal, seem to be as energetic as ever, not affected by the emergency or the global slowdown in IT. Interestingly, there will be executives from international brands than at any previous CAN show. Brother and Olivetti are sending top-level executives to Nepal, and Canon's general manager for printing will also be flying in from Japan. Canon's local partner, IEC, is very excited and even sponsored the gate at the conference venue at the last moment.
But the biggest name we will see-something of a coup for CAN-is the chairman of Temenos, the world's top banking software company. George Koukis will deliver a keynote speech on the opening ceremony, which highlighted the trends in global banking software.

The total turnover of the IT industry in 2001 is estimated at Rs 3 billion (about $40 million), and though computer sales have decreased, the sale of services, such as networking, has increased. Growth in the sector in the last year has been a whopping 25 percent compared with the same period the previous year. Most visitors to the first CAN Info Tech in 1995 were diehard enthusiasts who simply went to gawk at computers. This year, it seems that anyone with the remotest interest in IT is going to be there. You may not want a Pentium 4, you may not be signing up for classes, but the show is worth a visit regardless-if only to get a glimpse of the inroads the 21st century is making in Nepal.