Although attendees and exhibitors spoke of a subdued Infosecurity 2002 show, attendance was up across the board at the annual trade show, according to show organizers.

Held at New York City's Jacob K. Javitz Conference Center, Infosecurity is billed as a forum and trade show where IT professionals can mix with business owners and managers who are interested in learning about the latest in information security technology.

In its second year in the U.S., this year's show doubled in size compared with last year, with 22,000 square feet of display space. The number of both exhibitors and attendees grew by more than 60 percent over last year.

Infosecurity 2002 had 2,100 attendees, compared with just 1,300 last year and 126 exhibitors compared with 78 last year, according to Scott Temple, event director for Infosecurity organizers Reed Exhibitions, part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC.

Despite the increases and a number of recent reports indicating that security hardware and software will be one of the bright spots in next year's technology purchasing market, vendors interviewed on the exhibit floor at Infosecurity still complained of low attendance at this year's show.

Standing in his company's booth on the exhibit floor, Ralph Pisani Jr., director of business development USA at antivirus maker Sophos PLC, said that foot traffic by his company's booth was low at this year's show, but said that netting qualified customers was only part of the reason that companies like Sophos invests in booths for Infosecurity or shows like it.

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