UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 11 MARCH 2013
Students and experts in computing and technology are to gather at Birmingham City University this week to discuss Open Source computer software and the opportunities it offers for customers and business employment.
Speaking at the event hosted by Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Technology, Engineering and the Environment on Tuesday 12 March will be Jon “maddog” Hall, Executive Director of Linux International, an association of computer users who support and promote the Linux Operating System.
Jon will be discussing the work he is currently involved in bringing environmentally friendly computing to emerging marketplaces, as well as his work consulting governments of China, Malaysia and Brazil on the use of free and open source software.
Stephen Murphy, Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University’s School of Computing, Telecommunications and Networks and academic Lead for Linux Professional Institute, said: “Open Source software plays a key unacknowledged role in our everyday lives, whether it is the servers that host web sites or the software running on our smart phones. This talk will help to show how Open Source software can be a positive business and career choice”.
Also speaking at the event will be Phil Andrews, Regional Vice President for Northern and Eastern Europe at Red Hat, the global leader in open source solutions.
Phil will be providing an insight into his experiences of Red Hat’s thinking around building an open source software business to compete in today’s global enterprise IT market, which now sees the organisation bringing in over $1.25Billion in annual revenues.
Duncan Maidens, Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University’s School of Telecommunications and Networks, said: “Many people don’t realise the importance of Open Source software in today’s commercial world with the big giants like Microsoft dominating the advertising space. This event will offer a real insight into current technology developments.”
Following on from the talk, Birmingham City University will also be hosting the UK’s first Linux Professional Institute Linux Essentials ‘Train the Trainer’ event on 13 -15 March, enabling academics from across the UK to develop the necessary skills to deliver courses based around this new exam to students at their own institutions.