LinuxTag 2013 update – Friday, 24 May

25.05.2013 07:56

LinuxTag 2013: Competence network, games developers and distributed computing

During a guided tour of the trade show media representatives visited a number of selected stands from among the displays by 120 companies and projects These included the Vikora competence network from Xinnovations e.V. Christian Platzer, Sales Manager of EsPresto AG, explained to the journalists that this network brings together the efforts of a number of small and medium-sized companies in Berlin. At the present time it comprises some 50 companies, one of them being EsPresto. This arrangement enables member companies to cooperate with one another, to work together in developing new markets, and also to collaborate on new orders.

“Colleagues wanted” is the message on the Goodgame Studios stand. The company was formed two years ago and is joining the Vikora competence network for the first time at LinuxTag. “In particular we are looking for new staff to join our team of administrators", explained Marianne Kraus from the company’s personnel department, adding that this Hamburg-based company currently offers ten free, browser-based games. They include the strategy game Goodgame Empire, the farm game Goodgame Big Farm and the restaurant and cookery game Goodgame Café.

Rechenkraft.net e.V. has chosen to concentrate on distributed computing. As board member Uwe Beckert explained to the media representatives, this service is available to anyone wishing to use their computer in order to carry out research in such areas as climate research, astronomy or to locate medications. Among the exhibits on the association’s stand at LinuxTag are earthquake and radioactivity sensors, which allow amateur researchers all over the world to take readings. Beckert mentioned that Rechenkraft.net is currently supporting over 100 projects.

Open-IT Summit 2013: Open Source as a business model

The SUSE company has been in existence for more than 20 years. It provides a one-stop shop, with desktop, enterprise, network and cloud solutions as well as the corresponding support, explained Account Executive Rainer Giepmann. He also told the participants in the press tour that SUSE operates the fourth fastest computer in Europe. One of the main advantages of this Linux distribution is that it is small, simple and fast, enabling control functions to be implemented without the need to run a large computer in the background. Its users include various German government ministries, federal institutions, universities and industrial companies such as BMW, Mercedes, Bosch, Siemens, IBM and Dell.

“Ancud IT is a systems integrator and consultant for Open Source technologies in areas such as web portal solutions and business intelligence as well as data and business process management", explained Martin Ortner, Sales Manager for Ancud IT-Beratung GmbH. “Our aim is to introduce Open Source in companies, providing users with solutions that are both economical and profitable." One of the partners of Ancud IT is the Actian company. CEMEA Country Manager Dr. Marcus Oliver Menzel explained that Actian is a global market leader in the fields of big data and analytical databases. “With the aid of the latest, most innovative technologies we help companies in the business intelligence field to make the best possible business decisions", said Dr. Menzel.

As a member of the Open Source Business Alliance the company Red Hat GmbH has been actively involved in planning the first Open-IT Summit. This information was provided by Christof Orth, Key Account Manager Public Sector Clients. He also mentioned that, last year, the group achieved sales in excess of one billion dollars with its Open Source solutions, an unparalleled achievement in the Open Source sector. Red Hat regards itself not only as a software company but also as a link between the communities that are engaged in the development of Open Source software and the corporate clients that use it. The solutions that are developed within the community encompass reliable and powerful cloud, virtualisation, storage, Linux and middleware technologies.

“In our view it is very important to be able to provide graphic representations“, explained Robert Sieber, Technology Manager SM-SUITE of SHD System-Haus-Dresden GmbH. At the Open-IT Summit this company is showing what can be obtained with the Nagios monitoring status. It includes the ability to identify the cause and the effects of a fault, monitoring IT in the context of business processes and from the user’s viewpoint, and receiver-oriented visualisation. The data is held in an Open Source CMDB (Configuration Management Database), offering the possibility of incorporating available databases, thereby reducing the costs of data maintenance. Among the clients of SHD are the Berlin Water Utility, GSW, parts of BASF and Bayer and the police force in Saxony, Sieber added.

“We are strictly an Open Source company and this is evident from our activities“, emphasised Rico Barth, Chief Executive of c.a.p.e. IT GmbH. Based in Chemnitz, this company specialises in optimising business processes in the service sector and describes itself as the most important service provider and supplier of OTRS-based service management products and integration modules in the German-speaking world, as well as a partner in the search for solutions for OTRS projects. Some of its staff have over ten years’ experience with IT service management projects. In addition to the integration of the client management systems opsi in OTRS, c.a.p.e. IT is carrying out further development work on the OTRS-based service module KIX4OTRS and the comprehensive service management solution KIXbox.

Companies in all sectors can use the Document Management/ Enterprise Content Management System (DMS/ECM) agorum® core to implement the automation of processes within the company in order to meet individual requirements. For example this system enables business processes to be optimised and it supports adherence to legal regulations, such as the requirement for audit-proof archiving of documents in compliance with GDPdU and GoB. In system development it is important for agorum® to be able to accurately customise the functionalities of DMS to meet the demands of clients and their own particular requests and ideas. Stefan Röcker, Marketing Manager for agorum® Software GmbH: “We help companies to collect data, to process it and to ensure that it is archived in an audit-proof way.” The main focus is on medium-sized companies but these solutions can also be used by the very smallest and by large companies too.

Secure deployment of content management systems

Visitors can learn more about tacNET on the stand of the Federal Agency for Security in Information Technology (BSI). The initials stand for “training and certification network“ and it is a virtualisation solution that provides for complex, heterogeneous network environments. Made up of a number of services and tools the OpenVAS (Open Vulnerability Assessment System) is a wide-ranging solution for scanning and managing weak points. The new version has been expanded in a number of areas such as the possibility for the integration and linking of security information databases including CVE. And mapWOC (massive automated passive Web Observation Center) is an automated way for users to check the integrity of websites and identify malicious content. The new version 1.4.0 can now be controlled through the command line and produces screenshots of the websites that have been visited. BSI is also presenting the results of a recent study into the secure deployment of content management systems.

(Hall 7.1c, Stand 168, contact: Tim Griese, telephone: +49-228-9995825777, email: presse@bsi.bund.de, internet: www.bsi.bund.de)

About LinuxTag

LinuxTag is Europe's leading trade fair and conference on Linux and open source software. The four-day event has been taking place since 1996, and annually on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds since 2007. It offers the latest information for professional users, decision-makers, developers, newcomers and the community. In addition to the programme of papers and a separate Business & Public Authorities Conference, LinuxTag traditionally hosts an exhibition featuring projects and companies associated with the Open Source sector. Verein LinuxTag e.V. is the non-commercial organiser of the event, which is staged jointly with Messe Berlin GmbH. More details are available at www.linuxtag.org.

 


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