The IT Business Forum begins in Adelaide today as a prelude to the World Congress on Information Technology 2002 (WCIT).
The list of international speakers at both events reads like a who's who of IT with a few politicians making an appearance for good measure.
The WCIT opening ceremony on Wednesday includes former US President Bill Clinton and Australia's Prime Minister John Howard.
Presentations to follow include global EDS VP George Newstrom, Microsoft CTO Craig Mundie, Sybase CEO John Chen and IBM Global Services CEO Doug Elix.
For the next two days a key focus of the IT business forum will be tackling global security threats with the executive director of the US Department of Defence Cyber Crime Centre, Philip Reitinger and vice chair of US President George Bush's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, Howard Schmidt.
It's been no slow start for the event with many of the 1500 delegates arriving last Friday and no doubt getting acquainted with the golf courses and local wineries.
Adelaide, which is Australia's fourth largest city, has rarely seen such fanfare.