By Jeremy Scott-Joynt BBC News Online business reporter

A string of once-popular trade shows has become the latest casualty of the vicious slowdown engulfing the technology business.

The tech sector is - to put it kindly - in a severe recession if not a depression Fredric Rosen Key3Media boss

Comdex Chicago was once one of the main exhibitions on a merry-go-round of trade fairs across the US.

But its organiser, Key3Media, is ditching the April 2003 Chicago show - along with others in New York, Montreal, Atlanta and Vancouver.

Instead, it said, it will concentrate on the most high-profile Comdex: the immense annual get-together in Las Vegas every November, together with a clutch of shows in 17 other countries around the world.

Straitened times

It comes as little surprise to industry insiders that Comdex Chicago has gone under the axe.

Key3Media itself admitted that this year's show attracted just 25,000 visitors, a far cry from the 70,000 that attended in 2001.

The exhibitors' list was almost halved, to 200 in 2002 from 350 the year before.

Many of the startups which fuelled the shows' success withered and then died

At the height of the tech boom of the 1990s, companies were falling over one another to exhibit at shows such as Comdex, building massive, futuristic stands in an attempt to grab attendees' attention among the thousands of competing attractions.

Amid the signing of deals, unveiling of gadgets and announcement of grand alliances, the shows were essential networking opportunities.

But since the boom faltered in early 2000, many of the startups which fuelled the shows' success withered and then died, and the networking shifted to other, less frenetic spheres.

And even the big players are much less keen to spend the millions - stand design and build, floor space rental, staff and a host of promotional expenses - that a decent presence demands.

Eclipsed

Under the circumstances, Comdex Chicago was perhaps the logical candidate for the chop, given that it has become overshadowed by its bigger sibling in Las Vegas.

Key3Media made no secret of its industry's changed circumstances.

"The tech sector is - to put it kindly - in a severe recession if not a depression," its chairman and chief executive, Fredric Rosen, said.

"As the client base has gotten smaller, they've cut back on the marketing dollars and they want to take them to the biggest shows."