Open code on tap
Free Beer Sessions
Discuss industry trends, network with peers, and learn cool stuff... and the beer is free.
Bringing open source enthusiasts and users together and yes, the beer is ABSOLUTELY free.
In the true spirit of Open Source, Obsidian proudly sponsors Free Beer Sessions to promote the Open Source community dialogue, information sharing and to provide a networking opportunity.
Obsidian is the name that has become synonymous with providing peace of mind when it comes to Open Source Software (OSS) requirements.With two decades of knowledge and experience in the OSS realm Obsidian understands how open source can be utilised, modified and successfully implemented in today’s business world. Regardless of your company’s core focus, OSS can play a valuable role in reducing long-term IT expenditure and increasing efficiency, all the while ensuring complete control and ownership of your valuable data. Whether it is identifying the most appropriate places in your business to implement OSS solutions, or assisting with those mission critical implementations and back-up services, Obsidian can help you.
It is Obsidian’s mission to provide OSS and its accompanying services (including the Linux operating system) to the African continent.
As a partner to businesses and the consumer community, Obsidian provides consulting on how open source can benefit anybody from home users, through small and medium sized businesses, to large corporations. Obsidian can help anybody to optimise their existing IT investments through the proper use of OSS.
Professional support for OSS systems and applications remains a point of concern for many IT decision makers. Obsidian has been providing professional telephonic, remote and on-site support on contract and per-incident basis for more than a decade. During this period, Obsidian has implemented and maintained OSS in business areas ranging from the infrastructural level to back-end solutions, as well as custom developed solutions. As one of the first OSS solution providers in South Africa, Obsidian has forged strong partnerships with some of the IT industry’s top players. These partnerships offer Obsidian access to a wealth of knowledge that is vital in providing the very best open source solutions to our clients.
Key to Obsidian’s success over the past decade has been the emphasis we place on having skilled internal resources available. Extending this opportunity to our clients flows directly from a deep understanding of the value of training and knowledge transfer.
As important as having highly skilled technical resources at your disposal, is having end-users that are properly trained. With this in mind, Obsidian also provides end-user training on popular open source applications, with a strong focus on cross platform applications. For more information visit us at www.obsidian.co.za.
Past Speakers
Jan Wildeboer
Red HatEMEA EvangelistTalks:
- 2014 Oct 02Open source inspires
Riedwaan Bassadien
MicrosoftPlatform Strategy ManagerTalks:
- 2014 Oct 02Open source and microsoft
Karl Fischer
Obsidian SystemsTechnical ConsultantTalks:
- 2018 Nov 01Karl's Camp Fire
- 2017 Mar 02TBC
- 2014 May 29Partly cloudy
- 2013 Oct 31Android, now and tomorrow
- 2020 Mar 04Legendary Speakers
- 2020 Apr 30Lockdown Catchup
Paul Thompson
SUSESenior Technical ConsultantTalks:
- 2015 Jun 30Achieving zero downtime
Schalk Neethling
MozillianTalks:
- 2015 Jun 30Open web for all
Philip Booysen
Internet EntrepreneurTalks:
- 2016 May 12A Story of Enhancement featuring Raspberry Pi
- 2013 Jan 01Combining open source software, open source hardware like arduino, your idea and collaborative intelligence
Eddie Dunckley
Snr Strategist and Web ManagerTalks:
- 2016 May 12A new way to do Web applications
Tim Haak
Let's Talk GeekTalks:
- 2015 Nov 12Talking About the Whale in the Room - Docker
Ben Rudall
HortonworksTalks:
- 2015 Nov 12Starting A Spark for Hadoop
Charles Ash
Scifi SystemsDoug Hoseck
WordpressExpertTalks:
- 2016 Oct 13War of the websites
Grant Bingham
Autumn LeafTalks:
- 2016 Oct 13Big data in AWS using Hadoop & ELK
Robert Graham
Obsidian SystemsTechnical ConsultantTalks:
- 2017 Mar 02TBC
Jonathan Carter
Open Source TechnologistTalks:
- 2017 Mar 02TBC
Andy Hoiles
IBM META RegionTalks:
- 2016 Feb 25The Power of LinuxOne
Richard Banks
CodaptiveFounderTalks:
- 2016 Feb 25The PHP Renaissance
Keutlwile Leso
IBMClient Technical AdvisorTalks:
- 2015 Aug 27The Secret Source: Govern, strategise, and architect before you open
Mark Clarke
Jumping BeanSolutions ArchitectTalks:
- 2015 Aug 27The Internet of Things and Security
Guillaume Belrose
QuantelPrincipal Software EngineerTalks:
- 2015 Aug 27DevOps made simple with Ansible
Monique Afonso
eConsultantManaging DirectorTalks:
- 2014 May 24Open leave, open salaries - open everything!
Donovan Austin
Internet SolutionsCloud ArchitectTalks:
- 2013 Oct 31Implementation of Openstack / Ceph infrastructure at IS
Anton de Wet
Talks:
- 2013 Jan 01Spiral economics and open source
Muggie van Staden
Obsidian SystemsManaging DirectorTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01The bee keeper - a description of professional open source business models
Garren Smith
Red Comment LabsFounderTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01The use of open source software tools to power your start-up
Guy Taylor
TYMEAnalytics ArchitectTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01How technology is changing journalism
Jason Norwood-Young
10LayerCEO & FounderTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Practical infrastructure scaling for millions of users in the cloud
Johan Lamprecht
FrostnetFounderTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01The history, security and legalities behind local news (nntp) indexing services ~ the local pirate bay
Klaus Bergmann
IBMTechnical Sales SupportTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01The history, status and outlook of linux on the mainframe
Lee Taylor
TelementaTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Cubieboard introduction, bigger brother of the raspberry pi.
Merritt Krakowitzer
FNBMerritt KrakowitzerTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Datacenter automation with puppet
Peet Gouws
Discovery HoldingsIT Security ManagerTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Discovery's experience with deploying open source solutions
Paul Furber
ITWeb and BrainstormGroup Senior WriteTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01The rise of the small but great linux machines
Nicolaas Coetzee
FNB ConnectSolutions ArchitectTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Fnb's experience with deploying open source solutions
Philip Stander
GlobeTOMCo-founderTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01The use of open source technologies in demanding middleware environments
Pria Chetty
PwC Southern AfricaAssociate DirectorTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Solving for x: why the intellectual property in software question keeps us guessing?
Rachel Laycock
ThoughtWorksLead ConsultantTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Continuous delivery
Rob Enslin
ThoughtWorksSenior User Experience (UX) Design ConsultantTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Designing products that work. But first we need to test them with users.
Schalk Heunis
EnerwebDemand Intelligence SpecialistTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Combining open source software, open source hardware like arduino, your idea and collaborative intelligence.
Stefan Lesicnik
Linux System DynamicsTechnical DirectorTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Open source trends affecting SA and what can be expected in the coming year
Riedwaan Bassadien
eConsultantFounderYossi Hasson
SYNAQManaging DirectorTalks:
- 2013 Jan 01Open vs closed source: which is more secure?