Ubuntu in business – London 13th July

The Ubuntu UK community and Canonical, the commercial sponsors of Ubuntu, are currently inviting folk to a very different type of IT event being held on Tuesday, 13th July in London between 1 pm and 5 pm. The venue is The Brickhouse, 152c Brick Lane, London, E1 6RU (map). The nearest Tube station to the venue is Aldgate East.

Over the last 5 years, Ubuntu for the desktop and server has made significant inroads into UK businesses, often driven by the enthusiasm of individuals who use Ubuntu at home and see the benefits it can bring to the workplace. This event gives those advocates an opportunity to introduce their colleagues to Ubuntu, Canonical, partners, community experts and their fellow IT professionals. Attendees will learn how Ubuntu is being deployed in the UK and discover how they can introduce or extend this technology safely and effectively within their organisation.

The programme is as follows:

1pm – Welcome
An introduction to Ubuntu and our community.

1.20 – Ubuntu in action
A couple of case studies of companies using Ubuntu to enhance their business.

Firstly, Chris Puttick, Chief Information Officer of Oxford Archaeology, will explain how one of the largest independent archaeology and heritage practices in Europe, with over 400 specialist staff, took the strategic decision to adopt an open source infrastructure with Ubuntu at the heart of it.

Secondly, Emphony Technologies, a start-up software company producing engineering project management and workflow tools, decided to deploy Ubuntu as its infrastructure; discover how they got on and their plans for the future.

1.40 – Open Mic session
Ubuntu partners and community members (perhaps including you!) tell us how they use Ubuntu in a business context. There will be 5 minute slots with strict timekeeping!

2.15 – Demonstrations, food and networking
Grab some nibbles and see a selection of demonstrations and hands on workshops featuring:

• Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (Amazon EC2 compatible cloud computing wherever you want it)
• Landscape Systems Management for Ubuntu
• Ubuntu Server Edition
• Social Media for the workplace with WordPress and Ubuntu
• Quick, cheap, easy, low-risk and fun ways to get started with Ubuntu
• Ingres, an enterprise class open source database
• Alfresco document and content management

4.00 – Ubuntu Advantage
The new services from Canonical designed to give your business an edge in its open source strategy.

4.15 – Panel Discussion
A panel with members drawn from Canonical, partners and the community chaired by author and journalist Glyn Moody (yes, the man who wrote Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution. Ed.) and loosely following the theme of “The Benefits and Pitfalls of an Open Source Strategy”.

5.00 – Late
Attendees are encouraged to stay on, sample an Ubuntini at the bar, have a chat and enjoy the Brickhouse’s comedy night.

You can register for the event here.

All are welcome, but if you already count yourself as an Ubuntu user, please drag along a colleague who has yet to see the light! (Perhaps one of our friends from Connecting Bristol would like to come along. Ed.)