Speaker and Session Details for Risk Management in Open Source Procurement

by Ross Gardler on 14 February 2008

Introduction

Ross Gardler

10:15 - 10:40 OSS Watch - Engaging with Open Source

Abstract

In this presentation Ross will provide an overview of what it means to engage with open source. We will take a high level look at the various support options available for typical open source projects, what to look for in a sustainable open source project and support organisation, and how to engage with the developers of the project where appropriate. At the end of this session we will have examined some of the myths surrounding open source such as:

open source is unsupported
open source development is chaotic and unmanaged
open source is insecure
open source is free (as in free of cost)
open source is unpredicatable

Biography

Ross Gardler is the manager of OSS Watch, the JISC funded open source advisory service to UK HE and FE. Ross has a long history of engagement with open source, both as a consumer and a developer. He is a member of The Apache Software Foundation, a position of merit given in recognition of significant contributions to the success of the Foundation. Prior to taking up his post in OSS Watch Ross was an independent contractor assisting companies engaging with open source products.

Simon Mather

10:45 - 11:10 UFI/learndirect - User case study UFI/learndirect

Abstract

Ufi was created in 1998 with a mission to provide educational services to hard to reach learners. The learndirect system is believed to be the largest online learning system in the world and is at the heart of the Ufi operation. In 2005 Ufi commited to a multi-million pound project to breath new life into this key service and elected to migrate learndirect from a Microsoft to an open source Java platform as part of the work.

During this presentation Simon will describe how Ufi have undertaken this programme of work over the last two and half years, the contribution open source software has made, and the part this has played in modernising the organisation.

Biography

Simon is responsible for architecture and development of the companies financial systems and its flagship online learning system “learndirect”. This is a long standing and highly successful service funded by the UK Government to compliment more traditional educational methods. With more than 2 million registered learners it is quoted as being the largest online learning system in the world.

Mark Taylor

11:30 - 11:55 Open Source Consortium - Engaging with the UK Open Source Industry

Abstract

In this presentation Mark will introduce the Open Source Consortium (OSC) which represents the Open Source business community in the UK. The OSC currently have over 80 members - more than any other FOSS business consortium in Europe.

As a not-for-profit organisation, we guarantee the quality of Open Source deployments by setting professional standards and bonding our members. In doing so our aim is to help our members win more business within the UK’s public and private sectors.

Biography

Mark Taylor is the President of the Open Source Consortium, the UK’s Open Source Trade Association. He has been instrumental in some of the largest Open Source deployments in the UK, working with household names in both Private and Public sectors. Mark advises Government Departments, Educational Agencies, Public Bodies and Political Parties, helping them understand Open Source, the implications of it’s adoption, and accelerating it’s uptake.

John Lane

11:55 - 12:30 Imperial College - A Linux for All Seasons

Abstract

This presentation will demonstrate the manner in which Open Source is being used within Imperial College to standardise the software platforms available across business and academic departments. However, the user community within a University environment is far from homogeneous which is reflected in varying attitudes to risk and, as a consequence, varying platform requirements. So, there must be some flexibility around the standardisation process, and the manner in which this is being approached in order to attempt to square the stability versus ‘bleeding edge’ circle is described.

Biography

John Lane is Unix Technology Team Manager within Imperial College’s ICT service. He heads up a team providing platform support for Unix and Linux systems across the College. He has worked in a variety of organisations all using a mix of open source and proprietary technologies. This included a stint with Cygnus Solutions, the Open Source support company later subsumed within RedHat.

Panel Session 1

13:30 - 14:15 and 14:30 - 15:15 Working with the Open Source Consortium

Abstract

This panel consists of members of the Open Source Consortium. This session is your opportunity to ask specific questions about how Open Source Consortium members can assist your procurement exercises.

Example questions include, but are not limited to:

In what way does the your membership of the OSC help me as a potential customer of your company?
How should my procurement team engage with members of the OSC during procurement?
Many members of the OSC are SMEs, what are my options if my chosen supplier ends support for my chosen product, or worse still, goes out of business?
One of the strengths of open source is the collaborative development model. Do members of the panel, and the wider OSC, collaborate to ensure interoperability between the various solutions you provide? If so, in what way?

Panel Members

Chris Kenyon

Chris Kenyon is Director of Business Development at Canonical Ltd, the company behind Ubuntu, the world’s most popular desktop distribution used by over 6 million users in 200+ countries including Google, San Francisco Airport and over 650,000 pupils across Europe. He leads the team that handle Canonical’s relationships with hardware, software, training and education partners. Chris joined Canonical in 2006 and has driven forward key initiatives with Dell, Intel and SUN in addition to helping partners work with Ubuntu in countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Matthew Linden

Matthew Linden is Projects Director at Sirius Corporation, the UK’s leading integrator of Open Source infrastructure solutions. He is responsible for management of the company’s major projects and service contracts for large clients in both the public and private sectors. He has managed some of the UK’s largest open source deployments in education, such as Yorkshire and Humber Grid for Learning’s e-mail, directory services, web proxying and content filtering infrastructure for a quarter of a million users.

Ian Lynch

Ian Lynch is a Director of The Learning Machine Ltd, an Awarding Body accredited by QCA, DELLS and CCEA. Ingots are certificates endorsed by eskills and accredited by the UK regulators with a completely new way of managing assessment using the internet and open source Web 2.0 technologies. Launched in September 2007 the company already has more than 10,000 learners registered on its certification site. Ian was a member of the teams that set up the first City Technology College and the Specialist Schools programme. As a Registered Inspector with OFSTED he founded the professional association for school inspectors, IRIS.

Vince Blogg

Vince Blogg is a Director of Hubstone, UK leaders in Open Source Customer Relationship Management, Data Integration and Business Intelligence. He is an experienced technology consultant with a background at IBM and PwC Consulting. As a Director at Hubstone he takes responsibility for the technical direction of the business and client solution architecture.

Andy McKay

Andy McKay is a lead developer at Blue Fountain, the UK’s leading specialists in the design, development, implementation and support of Supply Chain & Content Management Systems. He is a core developer of Plone, an open source content management system, and author of ‘The Definitive Guide to Plone’. Clients include Cambridge University and The Department for Education and Skills.

Olli Aro

Olli Aro is head of technology and product development at Clicks and Links Ltd, a company that transforms businesses in the public and private sector through innovative and leading edge technology. He is responsible for the company’s portfolio of Open Source based solutions including RSS aggregation for locally produced content, ‘Web-in-a-Box’ website toolkits, personalized community portal and content production platforms, and Second Life based services.

Panel Session 2

13:30 -14:15 and 14:30 - 15:15 Open Source explained by the users

Abstract

This panel consists of representatives working within the Education sector, IT vendors specialising in open source technologies, and Open Source specialists. This is a key opportunity to hear the perspective of both users and vendors.

You will be invited to question users on the way the solutions were implemented, how they are currently used, on the various benefits they found in choosing open source, and the issues they faced.

Example questions include, but are not limited to:

What were the main reasons to choose an open source solution, and what are the benefits?
How open source technology can lower risk in your IT infrastructure?
What additional benefits, besides being open sourced, do open source application provide compared to proprietary equivalents?

Panel Members

Simon Mather

John Lane

Boris Devouge

Red Hat

Erica Langhi

Metamatrix

Michael Farman

Mike has had a long career in content management. He started working at Interleaf, specializing in large-scale publishing. He was one of the early employees at Documentum, initially focusing on the pharmaceutical industry and the drug submission process. Mike spent over ten years at Documentum where he was also the technical lead on Web Content Management. Mike was an early employee at Alfresco where he now works as Director of Solutions Engineering and Product Marketing. He is a regular speaker, presenting Alfresco product webinars and leading the popular community training series “Alfresco in an hour”.

Lars Ronning

Zimbra

Panel Session 3

13:30 -14:15 and 14:30 - 15:15 UK HE and FE Experiences

Abstract

This panel consists of representatives of people engaged with open source in the UK HE and FE sector at all levels from a software development project, through to a software foundation and on into funding bodies. This session presents an opportunity to explore real experiences of engaging with open source from an academic perspective.

Example questions include, but are not limited to:

Why, given the panels experience, is open source important to Higher and Further education?
What models of support best fit academic procurement of open source software?
Should we develop a self-supporting community of users within the academic domain?

Panel Members

Tim Parkinson

Tim is the manager of OMII-UK Southampton, where he is responsible for integrating the Open Source software components developed under OMII-UK’s Commissioned Software Programme. He has had a long and varied career in software development in industry, where he was latterly a keen user of open-source software to support development and release management processes. Tim joined the Southampton Regional e-Science Centre in 2003 and moved to OMII-UK in 2006 where his main focus has been the development, procurement, and support of new Open Source software.

tbc

Matthew Dovey

JISC Programme Director, e-research

Nicola Wilkinson

Nicola has over seven years of using open source software both in industry and education. More recently Nicola has been the lead developer on a new open source application for HE education, WebPA. The WebPA project has allowed Nicola to gain a unique insight into trying to launch an open source project in the academic arena, as well as, trying to build the necessary community around the tool.