[Revised to reflect programme changes, 31/3/09]
At Inmarsat, London.
From the event organizers:
"The country is in an economic crisis: Alistair Darling has demanded public sector bodies must make an extra £5bn efficiency savings in ICT and back office systems by 2011. Never has there been a more compelling argument for public sector organisations to look at open source software as an alternative to traditional proprietary software.
Public sector bodies need to be more dynamic and flexible, keeping an eye on new ways of working and, most importantly in the current financial crisis, of saving much needed and depleted funding. Open source isn't always free, although a lot is, but licensing terms are much less restrictive than with proprietary software meaning licensing costs are much lower.
This conference will give delegates the opportunity to hear examples of where open source has been implemented, what the benefits have been, how the business case was made, and give vendors the chance to make valuable contacts and face to face discussions about potential moves to open source packages.
Attend this conference to discover if going down an open source route is right for you.
Main themes:
- Building a business case: why, when and how?
- Implementing open source systems: how difficult can it be?
- Saving money: making those all important efficiency savings during difficult economic times
- Flexibility: improving business processes Licensing: issues and costs
- Open source V proprietary software: is it a case of either or?
- Tendering and procurement: including open source in the process
- Security: is open source a strength or a weakness?
- Migration: interoperability and integration with legacy systems
- Culture shift: training and overcoming objections
Confirmed speakers:
- Miles Berry, Website Manager, Open Source Schools
- Lou Burnard, Service Director, OSS-Watch, Oxford University
- Ryan Cartwright, Head of IT, Contact a Family
- Prof. David Chadwick, Professor of Information Systems Security, University of Kent
- Adrian Davey, Head of IT, Tube Lines
- Mark Elkins, Chair, British Computer Society Open Source Specialist Group
- Gerry Gavigan, Chairman, Open Source Consortium
- Dr Stephen Lucey, Executive Director, Strategic Technologies, BECTA
- Liam Maxwell, Author, Centre for Policy Studies
- Dr John Pugh MP, Shadow Treasury Minister, Liberal Democrats
- Michael Robinson, Senior Consultant, Deloitte
Programme
09:45 Chair's opening remarks
Mark Elkins, Chair, British Computer Society Open Source Specialist Group
09:55 Opening keynote: Open source – why is it so important now?
At a time when the imperative to save money has never been greater what role can open source systems play? Major public sector bodies are starting to endorse and encourage open source as an option during the procurement process, as are the European Commission. What has brought about this revision of open source as a serious option? In a changing economic and political climate what does open source mean to the wider public sector?
Dr John Pugh MP, Shadow Treasury Minister, Liberal Democrats
10:25 How to open an Oyster
This case study demonstrates how Open Standards and Open Source helped TfL Oyster Card Online save 80% operational costs and improve performance, scalability, support and security. What can the wider public sector learn from TfL's deployment of Open Source systems?
Michael Robinson, Senior Consultant, Deloitte This session is sponsored by Red Hat
10:55 Morning break
11:25 Rolling out an organisation-wide open source system
Making changes to any way an organisation works is risky, nowhere more so than with new IT systems. How should the process be managed, the obstacles be overcome and the benefits communicated?
Software migration – managing the technical, financial and cultural issues
Overcoming objections and risk
Drivers for change – the decision process
Ryan Cartwright, Head of IT, Contact a Family
11:55 Dispelling the myths: OSS Watch experience of explaining Open Source principles and practice in the academic community
Lou Burnard, Service Director, OSS-Watch, Oxford University
12:25 Lunch
13:25 To be confirmed
The Apache Software Foundation
13:55 Practicial implementation - an education perspective
Miles Berry, Website Manager, Open Source Schools
14:25 Afternoon break
14:25 Open and secure?
At a time when information security is at its most visible should you be taking an open source approach? Would a move to open source open the floodgates and leave your organisation prone to attacks or could it actually make your information and systems more secure?
Prof. David Chadwick, Professor of Information Systems Security, University of Kent
15:40 Closing panel: Open source V proprietary systems – Is it a clear case of either/or?
The phrase "open source" has different implication to different people but what is the real picture? Do you have to make a choice of "all or nothing" or can you take a "mix and match" approach?
Flexibility and cost savings
Managing the licensing minefield
Open source in the procurement process
Making a practical choice for your business needs
Panellists include:
Adrian Davey, Head of IT, Tube Lines
Gerry Gavigan, Chairman, Open Source Consortium
Dr Stephen Lucey, Executive Director, Strategic Technologies, BECTA
Liam Maxwell, Councillor, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
16:15 Chair's closing remarks and end of conference
This programme is currently being finalised. If you have a case study you think would fit the agenda please contact Paul Jenkins, Programme Manager on 020 3353 4854 or email at paul [dot] jenkins [at] guardian [dot] co [dot] uk
Further information
For registration queries please contact Nigel Wilkins (Event Manager) on 020 3353 4859 or email at nigel [dot] wilkins [at] guardian [dot] co [dot] uk
Kable reserves the right to make necessary changes to the programme
Pricing: Public sector and not-for-profit delegates: £150 + VAT"
There is a real danger of a dive towards open source software because it is cheap, rather than because open source and open standards produce software and systems which are both cheap and effective. A consequence of a move towards open source in a cost cutting exercise on lower specifications of equipment and networks, with inferior low-cost levels of support, the experience is likely to be one of failure, not as a consequence of any inferiority of the open source software, but because this shift in a context of cuts means that the implementation of open source will be done on the cheap. It could be similar to the experience of the one laptop prer child programme when it was discovered that it was competing with alternative Intel implementations of more conventional devices, which involved networks and classrooms fully funded by Intel. It was hardly surprising that the OLPC equipment looked inferior.
Let's remind ourselves of the setting. We have entered the greatest recession since 1930. The Audit Commission has announced that increased government borrowing is going to force squeeze on public spending very soon. The incoming Tory administration is already committed to cuts and it is difficult to see how they could act otherwise, because essentially this is what they are for. At already very high levels of government borrowing it is unlikely that anyone will be able to manage the miracle of Reaganomics under which taxes are cut but the spending magically continues. Where the repayments on the school building are committed for the next thirty years (pfi anyone?) and the design of the furniture and rooms does not permit a return to 1960s class sizes, the squeeze on a school budget starts to take a huge bite out of that fraction of the budget left when the staff and premises have been paid for. So schools stop paying for software upgrades, they skimp on maintenance and support contracts, they do not replace the IT techicians when they leave and this is precisely the context in which they adopt open source because it is seen to be cheap.
According to the Register, that ever reliable news channel, Oracle is suffering from a shift towards open source solutions as companies pay more attention to their costs, but we have a formidable task in front of us if we are going to ensure that open source solutions are implemented in properly supported envronments, with resilient networks and robust hardware. We should not be surprised to find that open source solutions are blamed when the unsupported and obsolete equipment fails.
There is a real danger of a dive towards open source software because it is cheap, rather than because open source and open standards produce software and systems which are both cheap and effective. A consequence of a move towards open source in a cost cutting exercise on lower specifications of equipment and networks, with inferior low-cost levels of support, the experience is likely to be one of failure, not as a consequence of any inferiority of the open source software, but because this shift in a context of cuts means that the implementation of open source will be done on the cheap.
I find this very dificult to accept, what the current financial situation is doing is enabling people to say things that have been rumoured at or whispered at for many years. ie A lot of people have been asking for this for years, the current financial climate makes it easier to say!
I have worked on some VERY large public contracts ((I built and designed the 3rd biggest Exchange 2000 system in the world for the government!)), proprietary solutions are often offered that could have easily been made available via OSS! I voted with my feet and left a well paid job with a very large IT provider in the UK I now work with my cutomers directly, ie they are my boss! I have installed a range of propietary and OSS applications which have been proven to add value to the organisation. We have been doing this for just over 4 years, so hardly jumping on the band wagon ;) The level of support within the OSS community has always been very good as well! Bad support seems even worse when you are paying for it!
I am hoping that this web site can act as an excellent portal for helping share good experiences, knowledge and help to other schools that may be wanting to see what can be provided by OSS.
Indeed I am hoping to start a regional OSS schools group for us pie munchers in the North of England, who knows what we can achieve with a bit collaboration :)