Open code on tap

Free Beer Sessions

Discuss industry trends, network with peers, and learn cool stuff... and the beer is free.

Free Beer Sessions Mascot

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.

Developers interacting with code

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

Jan Wildeboer

Red HatEMEA Evangelist
  • 2014 Oct 02
    Open source inspires
Riedwaan Bassadien

Riedwaan Bassadien

MicrosoftPlatform Strategy Manager
  • 2014 Oct 02
    Open source and microsoft
Brenda Mey

Brenda Mey

Standard BankHead of Infrastructure & Operations
  • 2018 Nov 01
    TBC
Karl Fischer

Karl Fischer

Obsidian SystemsTechnical Consultant
  • 2018 Nov 01
    Karl's Camp Fire
  • 2017 Mar 02
    TBC
  • 2014 May 29
    Partly cloudy
  • 2013 Oct 31
    Android, now and tomorrow
  • 2020 Mar 04
    Legendary Speakers
  • 2020 Apr 30
    Lockdown Catchup
Paul Thompson

Paul Thompson

SUSESenior Technical Consultant
  • 2015 Jun 30
    Achieving zero downtime
Schalk Neethling

Schalk Neethling

Mozillian
  • 2015 Jun 30
    Open web for all
Philip Booysen

Philip Booysen

Internet Entrepreneur
  • 2016 May 12
    A Story of Enhancement featuring Raspberry Pi
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Combining open source software, open source hardware like arduino, your idea and collaborative intelligence
Eddie Dunckley

Eddie Dunckley

Snr Strategist and Web Manager
  • 2016 May 12
    A new way to do Web applications
Tim Haak

Tim Haak

Let's Talk Geek
  • 2015 Nov 12
    Talking About the Whale in the Room - Docker
Ben Rudall

Ben Rudall

Hortonworks
  • 2015 Nov 12
    Starting A Spark for Hadoop
Charles Ash

Charles Ash

Scifi Systems
Doug Hoseck

Doug Hoseck

WordpressExpert
  • 2016 Oct 13
    War of the websites
Grant Bingham

Grant Bingham

Autumn Leaf
  • 2016 Oct 13
    Big data in AWS using Hadoop & ELK
Candice Herodotou

Candice Herodotou (Née Mesk)

DUG & DevConfOrganiser
  • 2018 Jun 14
    DevOps Culture: Are you ready?
Quintin de Kok

Quintin de Kok

Netstar
  • 2018 Jun 14
    Scaling Up and Out with Open Source at Netstar
Willie Engebrecht

Willie Engebrecht

Hortonworks
  • 2017 Nov 16
    A Sexy Apache NiFi Demo
Joe Drumgoole

Joe Drumgoole

MongoDB
  • 2017 Nov 16
    Event Sourcing
Adam Piskorski

Adam Piskorski

PyConOrganiser
  • 2018 Sep 19
    A PySpective
Johann Els

Johann Els

SUSE
  • 2018 Sep 19
    Open Source
Robert Graham

Robert Graham

Obsidian SystemsTechnical Consultant
  • 2017 Mar 02
    TBC
Jonathan Carter

Jonathan Carter

Open Source Technologist
  • 2017 Mar 02
    TBC
Graeme Lockley

Graeme Lockley

InvestecGraeme Lockley
  • 2014 Feb 20
    Open source magic in the financial sector
Len Weincier

Len Weincier

CloudAfricaFounder
  • 2014 Feb 20
    There is never enough time (trying to understand why we fail and software gets worse)
Andy Hoiles

Andy Hoiles

IBM META Region
  • 2016 Feb 25
    The Power of LinuxOne
Richard Banks

Richard Banks

CodaptiveFounder
  • 2016 Feb 25
    The PHP Renaissance
Keutlwile Leso

Keutlwile Leso

IBMClient Technical Advisor
  • 2015 Aug 27
    The Secret Source: Govern, strategise, and architect before you open
Mark Clarke

Mark Clarke

Jumping BeanSolutions Architect
  • 2015 Aug 27
    The Internet of Things and Security
Guillaume Belrose

Guillaume Belrose

QuantelPrincipal Software Engineer
  • 2015 Aug 27
    DevOps made simple with Ansible
Monique Afonso

Monique Afonso

eConsultantManaging Director
  • 2014 May 24
    Open leave, open salaries - open everything!
Donovan Austin

Donovan Austin

Internet SolutionsCloud Architect
  • 2013 Oct 31
    Implementation of Openstack / Ceph infrastructure at IS
Gavin McDougall

Gavin McDougall

Red HatSolution Architect
  • 2013 Oct 08
    Implementation of Openstack / Ceph infrastructure at IS
  • 2017 Oct 31
    Once upon a time a young man experienced Linux for the first time.... and what happened next
Dave Rampersad

Dave Rampersad

SNIPR
  • 2018 Mar 08
    The intelligence of AI: using AI in business & security.
Thomas Lee

Thomas Lee

Wingu
  • 2018 Mar 08
    OpenStack Demystified
Anton de Wet

Anton de Wet

  • 2013 Jan 01
    Spiral economics and open source
Muggie van Staden

Muggie van Staden

Obsidian SystemsManaging Director
  • 2013 Jan 01
    The bee keeper - a description of professional open source business models
Garren Smith

Garren Smith

Red Comment LabsFounder
  • 2013 Jan 01
    The use of open source software tools to power your start-up
Guy Taylor

Guy Taylor

TYMEAnalytics Architect
  • 2013 Jan 01
    How technology is changing journalism
Jason Norwood-Young

Jason Norwood-Young

10LayerCEO & Founder
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Practical infrastructure scaling for millions of users in the cloud
Johan Lamprecht

Johan Lamprecht

FrostnetFounder
  • 2013 Jan 01
    The history, security and legalities behind local news (nntp) indexing services ~ the local pirate bay
Klaus Bergmann

Klaus Bergmann

IBMTechnical Sales Support
  • 2013 Jan 01
    The history, status and outlook of linux on the mainframe
Lee Taylor

Lee Taylor

Telementa
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Cubieboard introduction, bigger brother of the raspberry pi.
Merritt Krakowitzer

Merritt Krakowitzer

FNBMerritt Krakowitzer
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Datacenter automation with puppet
Peet Gouws

Peet Gouws

Discovery HoldingsIT Security Manager
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Discovery's experience with deploying open source solutions
Paul Furber

Paul Furber

ITWeb and BrainstormGroup Senior Write
  • 2013 Jan 01
    The rise of the small but great linux machines
Nicolaas Coetzee

Nicolaas Coetzee

FNB ConnectSolutions Architect
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Fnb's experience with deploying open source solutions
Philip Stander

Philip Stander

GlobeTOMCo-founder
  • 2013 Jan 01
    The use of open source technologies in demanding middleware environments
Pria Chetty

Pria Chetty

PwC Southern AfricaAssociate Director
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Solving for x: why the intellectual property in software question keeps us guessing?
Rachel Laycock

Rachel Laycock

ThoughtWorksLead Consultant
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Continuous delivery
Rob Enslin

Rob Enslin

ThoughtWorksSenior User Experience (UX) Design Consultant
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Designing products that work. But first we need to test them with users.
Schalk Heunis

Schalk Heunis

EnerwebDemand Intelligence Specialist
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Combining open source software, open source hardware like arduino, your idea and collaborative intelligence.
Stefan Lesicnik

Stefan Lesicnik

Linux System DynamicsTechnical Director
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Open source trends affecting SA and what can be expected in the coming year
Riedwaan Bassadien

Riedwaan Bassadien

eConsultantFounder
Yossi Hasson

Yossi Hasson

SYNAQManaging Director
  • 2013 Jan 01
    Open vs closed source: which is more secure?