MATELEC
IFEMA – Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I
Feria de Madrid
28th October – 1st November 2008
The most important dates in our Spanish calendar this year was from the 28th October until 1st November, when the biennial MATELEC International Exhibition of Electrical and Electronic Equipment took place at the Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I in Madrid.
MATELEC is the biggest exhibition of its kind in Spain, and covers:
· Electrical energy
· Technology of electrical installation
· Lighting and illumination
· Inter & telecommunication
· Electronics and industrial equipment
· Subcontracting
MATELEC is also considered to be our “home” event, as our head office has been in Madrid for the past five years.
We had the largest stand for any enclosure manufacturer (210 sq mtrs plus an additional first floor of 36 sq mtrs), and displayed our complete range of wall and floor mounting enclosures:
Multi-Flex floor standing enclosures in mild steel. Available in stand-alone or combination versions, Multi-Flex has been designed with the user in mind. Ease of use, flexibility and the numerous range of standard accessories makes our Multi-Flex range the wireman´s friend!
Multi-Mount wall mounting enclosures in mild steel. With a vast range of standard sizes, cruciform design and a complete range of accessories, Multi-Mount is strong, flexible and built to last.
Stainless Steel wall mounting enclosures in our now standard 240 grade stainless steel, which provides enhanced corrosion protection even in the harshest of environments.
ICT wall and floor standing 19” racks. Our current ICT range is our best ever, and can offer solutions for even the most demanding applications.
Power & Distribution System (EPS) up to 5000 amps, based on our Multi-Flex range and tested according EN-60439-1 with all the major main switch gear manufacturers. We offer standard kits for MCCBs and partitions up to form 4. The Eldon Power System allows for primary ACB´s, secondary MCCB´s and terminal MCB´s or fixed and plug-in sections with different forms of segregation.
Also on show was our complete range of compact and modular polyester enclosures, terminal boxes in mild steel, stainless steel, aluminum, polyester, ABS and polycarbonate and our range of thermal management accessories: ventilation; air to air conditioning; air to water heat exchanger units and the new Vortex thermal device for special applications.
The Madrid Trade Fair (Feria de Madrid) is certainly an impressive site and is conveniently located near to the main airport (Barajas International Airport).
Inaugurated in 1980 and extended in 2002, the Madrid Trade Fair now offers 200,000 sq mtrs of covered exhibition space in twelve halls, plus a 600 seat auditorium and convention centre (13,200 sq mtrs).
There are over 80 different fairs a year, and so far over 42,000 companies have exhibited their products to 4.5M visitors.
The site is still managed by the four founding partners (IFEMA): The Community of Madrid (Comunidad de Madrid); the City Council (Ayuntamiento de Madrid); the Chamber of Commerce (Cámara de Comercio e Industria de Madrid) and the Madrid Savings Bank (Caja de Madrid).
As we said before Madrid is our home ground now. It is also the 3rd most populous municipality in the European Union, and although has a very modern infrastructure, you can still experience its historic past and traditional Spanish culture.
We can consider MATELEC 08 a great success judging by all the leads generated, although as with all these types of events, it also has a lot to do with the people behind the scenes that make it all happen. So, we would like to say thank you to all those involved in producing such a brilliant stand at MATELEC, and to all our customers, new and old who visited us!
Madrid is the largest city in Spain (located on the River Manzanares), although wasn’t always the capital. The site of modern-day Madrid has been occupied since pre-historic times, although the origins of the modern city come from the 9th century, when Muhammad I ordered the construction of a small palace in the same place that is today occupied by the Royal Palace (Palacio Real).
The Kingdom of Castile, with its capital in Toledo, and the Crown of Aragon, with its capital in Zaragoza, were brought together to form modern Spain by the Catholic Monarchs (Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon).
Their grandson Charles I of Spain preferred Seville as the capital, although it was Charles' son, Philip II (1527–1598) who moved the court to Madrid in 1561. Although he made no official declaration, the seat of the court was in reality the capital. Seville continued to control commerce with Spain's colonies, but Madrid controlled Seville.
There are several theories regarding the origin of the name "Madrid". According to legend Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor (son of King Tyrrhenius of Tuscany and Mantua) and was named "Metragirta" or "Mantua Carpetana". Although others contend that the original name of the city was "Ursaria" ("land of bears" in Latin), due to the high number of bears that were found in nearby forests, which, together with the strawberry tree ("madroño" in Spanish), have been Madrid’s emblem since the Middle Ages.
However, it is now commonly believed that the origin of Madrid comes from the 2nd century B.C., when the Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river. The name of this first village was "Matrice" (a reference to the river that crossed the settlement).
After the invasions of the Germanic Sueves, Vandals and Alans during the fifth century A.D., the Roman Empire could no longer defend its territories on the Iberian Peninsula, and were subsequently overrun by the Visigoths. The barbarian tribes took control of "Matrice". Then in the 7th century the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the name changed to "Mayrit", from the Arabic term "Mayra" (a reference to water as a "trees" or "giver of life" and the Ibero-Roman suffix "it" that means "place"). Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic "Matrit", which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic*.
Eldon Website (Spain):
http://www.eldon.es/es/
*Gentilic is a word that denotes people from that place (i.e. People from Madrid are called Madrilenian).