By Brian Proffitt
Managing Editor
Since I work in an isolated command center deep in the center of
the United States, it should come as little surprise that meeting
people is perhaps one of the biggest perks of my job.
In the course of performing my duties, I have had the
opportunity to meet some very smart people in the world of Linux
and Open Source software–the kind of folks you wish you could have
working at your organization, if only to whip things into shape
with the rest of your IT department.
Hiring these folks may not be terribly practical, since they
already have their own jobs, so we decided to try and give you the
next best thing at the upcoming Enterprise Linux Forum: two hours
to pick their brains and get the knowledge you need for you to get
things better in your company.
That’s the idea behind the workshop sessions that will be held
on June 4, the day before the official opening of the conference.
No vendor-speak, no marketing presentations (though we have pretty
much banned these from the conference as a whole anyway)–just
straight technical talk with practical applications of Linux
technology.
The two workshop tracks this session will be Linux in the Data
Center and Locking Down Linux, topics that seem to be at the fore
of corporate interest in open source technology right now.
In the Locking Down Linux track, speakers include Jay Beale,
creator of the super-secure Bastille Linux and Bob Toxen, noted
Linux security expert. These two speakers are each well-qualified
to deliver a great deal of information on how to get your networks
and servers locked down against intruders.
Developers will be pleased to note that in the Linux in the Data
Center track, we will have Scott Stark, Chief Technology Officer of
JBoss, who will speak about open-source application development in
the data center. We’re also hosting a session with a member of the
Open Source Development Labs on practical implementation of Linux
in a data center environment.
There will be more speakers at the workshops; we’re still
finalizing the details of who’s speaking when. But already the
sessions are well worth spending the extra day at the Santa Clara,
CA Convention Center getting this wealth of information. The
regular conference, which runs June 5-6, has its own line of
interesting sessions as well, and you’re invited to check out the
rest of the lineup and register online at the ELF Web
site.
I look forward to seeing you there!