Comes as a string of tech conferences get cancelled over coronavirus fears

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Microsoft has cancelled its IoT in Action event set to be held in Melbourne on 5 March amid customer and partner attendance woes.



“After close consultation with our partners and community, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the IoT in Action Melbourne event this March 5, 2020,” the company told prospective attendees in an email notice. “Microsoft regrets any inconvenience to IoT in Action sponsors and registrants.

“We are canceling this event because many of our customer[s] and partners are no longer able to attend, and us continuing to hold the event would no longer meet our business goals.

“Thank you for your continued support of IoT in Action and we will be in touch shortly with details of upcoming events,” Microsoft said.

Microsoft’s IoT in Action event series is aimed at building new IoT experiences and driving rapid innovation in businesses with the intelligent edge, together with Microsoft and its IoT partner ecosystem.

The first IoT in Action event took place in San Jose in 2017, kicking off a worldwide movement that has grown to include thirty cities and over 17,500 attendees from around the world.

The Melbourne event is one of a handful of IoT in Action events that have been cancelled.

While Microsoft put its decision to cancel the local event down to a lack of attendees, it is probable that the spectre of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak has had something to do with the decision of many partners and customers to pull out of the event.

Indeed, the IoT in Action cancellation comes hot on the heels of several high profile tech industry conference cancellations over the past few weeks.

In mid-February, Cisco cancelled its flagship Cisco Live conference in Melbourne due to "ongoing concerns" about the coronavirus outbreak.

Later in the month, Salesforce opted to cancel its physical regional World Tour event for Sydney due to coronavirus concerns, replacing it with a “reimagined” version that will be streamed completely online.

Facebook followed suit soon after, cancelling its F8 developer conference, which attracted 5,000 people from around the world last year, due to fears over the coronavirus.