World IT Show 2021, Innovative Technologies Leading the Post-Corona Era in One Place

WIS 2021 to be Held at COEX, Seoul from 21st to 23rd

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] A venue where you can take a comprehensive look at innovative ICT technologies and products such as 5G mobile communication, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and robots, which have become the ‘new normal’ across industrial sectors as well as social and cultural fields after COVID-19, is opening.

Korea’s largest ICT exhibition, the 'World IT Show (WIS) 2021,' will open on the 21st at COEX in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, under the theme ‘Spreading the Digital New Deal with 5G Wings.’ Hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, WIS 2021 will run for three days and feature 900 booths from 305 domestic and international companies. Among domestic companies, major corporations such as SK Telecom, KT, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Hyundai Motor Company, as well as ICT-related small and medium-sized ventures, will participate. Overseas companies including Huawei will also join to showcase wired and wireless network solutions.

The main exhibition areas include 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), electric vehicles, software, augmented reality, virtual reality, extended reality (AR·VR·XR), cloud, robots, and blockchain. Participating companies will present various new products and business models in convergence service fields such as non-face-to-face solutions for home and industry, smart homes, smart healthcare, smart factories, smart mobility, and smart cities, realized through innovative technologies in these areas.

SKT, “Meet a Future Full of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality”

An SKT promotional model introducing the WIS 2021 SKT exhibition booth prepared under the theme of 'A Future Filled with Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality.'

Among domestic mobile carriers, SK Telecom and KT will open booths to provide opportunities to see how technologies like 5G and AI are transforming industrial sites and everyday life.

SK Telecom will exhibit 12 innovative technologies that will lead the future of Korea’s ICT under the theme ‘A Future Filled with Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality.’ SK Telecom will showcase various AI technologies applied with its self-developed AI core brain AI semiconductor ‘SAPEON.’ In December last year, SK Telecom became the first in Korea to develop and unveil the AI semiconductor ‘SAPEON,’ which can be applied to data centers.

At this WIS, visitors can closely observe the chipset form of SAPEON, produced as a large structure, and verify the excellence of the self-developed AI semiconductor by comparing the graphics processing unit (GPU) and data processing speed in real time. Additionally, visitors will have the chance to experience AI-applied daily services. Visitors can watch the AI quarantine robot ‘Keemi’ autonomously navigating the exhibition halls using autonomous driving technology to carry out COVID-19 disinfection, and try the earset ‘NUGU Buds’ equipped with the AI service ‘NUGU’ themselves.

Future services related to the ‘Metaverse (3D virtual world)’ can also be experienced. The ‘5G Metaverse Cinema’ is a representative example. Visitors can wear VR devices while seated in special equipment to experience surreal scenarios such as deep-sea exploration or future robot wars.

KT Unveils Digital Platform-Based Solutions

Aerial View of KT's WIS2021 Booth

Operating under the name ‘Digico KT, a Leading Company in Digital Innovation Based on ABC (AI, Big Data, Cloud),’ KT will showcase various solutions based on its digital platform divided into seven zones.

In the Building Platform Zone, visitors can experience the ‘5G In-Building Service,’ which enables smooth use of 5G services even in shadow areas inside buildings where communication signals are weak, and the ‘AI Building Operator,’ which improves indoor energy efficiency through AI prediction technology.

In the Business Platform Zone, solutions such as the ‘AI Call Center Service,’ where AI voicebots handle call center consultation services and response result analysis, ‘KT Jalnagage,’ which helps small business owners analyze commercial districts using floating population data and industry trend keywords, and ‘Marketing Coach,’ a digital marketing integrated management solution that supports advertising execution and performance analysis based on AI technology, will be exhibited.

The KT DS Zone will demonstrate five B2B-exclusive solutions. Visitors can experience ‘K-Baram,’ which allows product trials via video chat in virtual stores; the RPA solution ‘Antbot’; the AI automation solution ‘AI Centro’; the infrastructure automation platform ‘Flying Cube,’ which reduces server configuration time to one seventy-fifth; and ‘Q-Officeware,’ a cloud-based digital workplace solution.

Samsung and LG Electronics Showcase Latest Products… Huawei Participates for the First Time

At this WIS 2021, visitors can also see the latest products from Korea’s leading companies. Samsung Electronics will exhibit smart home appliances such as Neo QLED TVs, Micro LED TVs, and Bespoke refrigerators, as well as mobile devices including the ‘Galaxy S21’ series, ‘Galaxy Z Fold2,’ and ‘Galaxy Z Flip 5G.’ LG Electronics will showcase various AI-based smart home appliances such as the world’s first rollable TV ‘LG Signature OLED R,’ the AI-based CLOi robot, and Gram laptops.

Among overseas companies, Huawei will introduce a variety of the latest solutions ranging from wired and wireless network solutions to Huawei storage and enterprise solutions. The wired and wireless network solutions include Liquid Optical Transport Network (OTN), AR routers, and eAI (embedded AI) Wi-Fi, which support high-quality 5G service even indoors.

Liquid OTN is a new transmission technology developed by Huawei to address the lack of flexibility, low utilization, and unsmooth bandwidth adjustment issues of existing OTN technology. AR (Access Router) is an advanced computing IoT gateway designed for computing and large-scale IoT networking, and eAI is a premium home Wi-Fi 6 product developed by Huawei equipped with AI functions to guarantee designated service quality.