On 9 and 10 June 2010, when the Business and Administration Congress takes place for the 10th time, the focus will be on the use of free software in companies and public administrations. There will be two parallel series of papers in which experienced users, distributors and IT specialists will present progress reports, case studies and personal impressions showing the wide range of opportunities created by the introduction of open source software. The two-day congress is an integral part of the largest event for Linux and free software in Europe: LinuxTag, which is taking place from 9 to 12 June 2010 on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds.
However, the migration to Linux not only offers many potential savings but also helps to conserve resources, as shown by the progress report from Immobilienscout24.de, Europe’s largest real estate portal. Without disrupting its business operations this Berlin-based company was able to complete the switch from Windows servers to a Linux environment, thereby reducing its energy consumption by 25 per cent and cutting hardware costs for each server by 60 per cent. In a paper entitled “SAP goes Open Source” Ruth Heidingsfelder and Stefan Müller will highlight the opportunities available to users for adapting existing license software through open interfaces, without requiring the purchase of new applications.
Those in public administrations with responsibility for IT strategies are eagerly awaiting the paper by Florian Schiessl from the Munich-based project LiMux München. He will be talking about the introduction of the open software Open Office in the administrative processes of the Bavarian state capital. Christian Stimming and Dr. Claudia Neumann will provide some insights into the ways that the financial administration system Gnu-Cash can be used to support the accounts departments of smaller companies. A physician, Dr. Neumann, will be describing how she introduced Linux in applications involving the German health card system. In his paper “You’re ruining everything!” the speaker Sven Grounsell will explain the role played by social aspects in the migration to Linux. Dr. Martin Deeg from the IT systems house of the Federal Labour Agency will report on the 13,000 clients using Linux.
"We are aware that public administrations and innovative companies in particular are studying open source with interest. However, they often lack background information and the opportunity for personal discussions about this subject. These will be available at the Business and Administration Congress at LinuxTag”, says Nils Magnus, program chair for the organisers, LinuxTag e. V., in explaining the success of this concept over the past ten years. “As an independent event we have been bringing together the suppliers of solutions and users, those with responsibility for systems and decision-makers for a longer period than any other European event.” This claim is also underlined by the many years of collaboration with numerous federal authorities such as the Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Office for Information Security as well as with municipal authorities including the state capital Munich.
Press contact
Astrid Ehring, Tel. +49-(0)30-3038-2275, ehring@messe-berlin.de
Technical contact
Nils Magnus, Program Chair LinuxTag 2010,
Free Conference Program LinuxTag 2010: Where .com meets .org - magnus@linuxtag.org