At the upcoming CeBIT trade fair, logistics themes will feature more prominently than ever before, thanks to Logistics IT, a new display comprising a group pavilion and a forum. The organizers have been working hard behind the scenes to get the new display area up and running, with the result that much of the program has already been finalized. Logistics IT will have a very broad focus, taking in all the various IT-related aspects of logistics. This means that CeBIT, the world's foremost trade fair for the digital world, will now also become a regular marketing fixture for the logistics industry. Being an annual event, the new display area will bridge the gap between Deutsche Messe's three-yearly CeMAT tradeshows. It will also give the logistics industry access to new categories of trade visitors. Not surprisingly, this new development has been very well received by the logistics sector.

Located in Hall 5 at CeBIT, the Logistics IT Forum will explore current and emerging issues and developments in the logistics software business. The Forum will open on Tuesday 7 March, the first day of CeBIT, with a panel discussion, after which the program will turn to IT in pharmaceutical logistics.

The morning session on the Wednesday is themed "Warehouse to go" and will be dedicated to mobile software solutions for everyday logistics operations. Logistics industry representatives, software providers and hardware manufacturers will be exploring the kinds of roles that smartphone and tablet apps can and, in future, will play in logistics. Wednesday afternoon's session centers around IT in retail logistics.

Both Thursday sessions will be moderated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (Fraunhofer IML). The morning session will examine the risks and opportunities of cloud computing. Cloud computing has the potential to free up resources, enabling providers of logistics services to concentrate on their core business of developing tailored, cost-effective logistics solutions. And for IT service providers, particularly those at the SME end of the spectrum, cloud computing opens up opportunities to service a wider circle of customers without having to invest vast amounts of money and time in IT infrastructure.

The Thursday afternoon session is themed "Urban Supply 2.0: Logistics in the Age of mCommerce, Social Media and Demographic Change". Wholesale and retail companies, goods suppliers, and providers of courier, express, parcel and logistics services are increasingly having to contend with road traffic restrictions in built-up areas. At the same time, they are under pressure to tailor services more closely to their customer¿s needs. The way through this challenge is to develop tailored, modular logistics solutions for urban areas that are time-, energy- and resource-efficient and friendly to the environment. Against this background, the Fraunhofer IML will be reporting back on "EffizienzCluster LogistikRuhr, Germany's largest logistics research project. The project's main focus is on "urban supply."

The final session, on the Friday, will deal with IT in production logistics.

On each day of the Forum apart from Thursday, the program will close with a "Logistics IT Happy Hour", during which exhibitors will have the opportunity to give speed presentations.

On the Saturday, the final day of CeBIT, the Forum will hold a careers day.

The Logistics IT Forum will hit the ground running with an attractive and thematically diverse program featuring some of the best minds in the logistics IT sector, Frank Pörschmann, Deutsche Messe's Senior Vice-President in charge of CeBIT, said. We are looking forward to a fruitful and enriching exchange of views and ideas on the big issues facing the increasingly digitized logistics industry.

Not that the Logistics IT display area will be the only part of CeBIT of value to the logistics industry. Trade visitors with an interest in logistics will also benefit from the ERP AREA, the AUTO ID/RFID Forum & Solutions Park and the Cloud Computing World display.