Press conference in the Press room atStockholmsmässan 6 June, 10.30 a.m.

INET 2001, the world's largest Internet conference, will attract over 1 500 delegates from a hundred or so countries to Stockholm. The theme for the conference is the mobile Internet. Among the notable speakers is the 'Father of the Internet', Vincent Cerf. Stockholm was chosen as the venue due to Sweden's leading position within IT on the global stage.

The world's foremost Internet companies, experts and users are to meet in Stockholm from 5 - 8 June 2001 to discuss technology, infrastructure and the Internet's social and economic perspectives. This makes the conference the most interesting and dynamic in the world. Visiting INET 2001 will be those who use the Internet, those who create its framework and those who are building it up.

Among the speakers will be Vincent Cerf, who is generally known as 'the Father of the Internet', along with Scott Bradner, who laid the foundations of IP architecture.

The Internet Society, ISOC, which is organising the conference, chose Sweden as the meeting place thanks to the tremendous international success gained by Swedish IT companies. These companies are still at the global forefront, and exert a powerful influence on IT development, not least in mobile applications. Swedish IT companies are still very attractive partners for foreign players, due to their leading-edge high technology competence. For a long time, Swedish IT companies have led the way in Internet development, above all in the mobile field and in the development of services. Sweden has one of the highest levels of Internet penetration in the world, and can boast of some of the most advanced users. INET 2001 is thus taking place just where development of the Internet lies furthest ahead from a global perspective.

INET 2001 is divided into three main themes: 'The Technology summit', 'The Uses of the Internet Summit', and 'The Governance and Regulation Summit' which cover the most interesting subject areas. In addition there will be over 40 sessions for conference visitors to participate in.

One of the major discussion areas is how, if and in that case who will control the Internet. In a panel discussion 'Quest for Self-Regulation - Lessons Learned' representatives of all viewpoints will put forward their arguments. The panel will include Sweden's former prime minister Carl Bildt and Marc Rotenberg, who is Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

World-leading high technology companies such as Ericsson, MCI Worldcom, Siemens and IBM are acting as sponsors, which is a further sign of the importance of INET 2001.

The arrangers are the Internet Society, ISOC, and ExpoNova, who are dealing with the practical side. INET 2001 will take place in Stockholmsmässan (Stockholm Trade Fairs) in Älvsjö.

More information is available on http://www.isoc.org/inet2001/

For further information please contact: Björn Wengse, ExpoNova AB,
tel: +46 8 402 1080, bjorn.wengse@exponova.se; www.exponova.se