In line with Novell`s focus on getting down to business through its commitment to partners, its annual Brainshare 2004 conference (which will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre between 26 and 28 May) will feature keynotes from Novell partners and customers, a dedicated track for the businessmen, and a partner pavilion showcasing real world implementations that are bringing business benefits to customers across the country.
"With the theme of partnership in mind, we`ve decided to take a different approach to our keynotes this year, teaming partners like BEA, IBM, HP, Oracle and SAP up with key Novell strategists, to speak about how Novell`s offerings can assist businesses in the local market," says Trish Barwick, marketing and channel manager for Novell SA.
"Attendees will also benefit from the valuable input of Novell customers on the final day`s keynote, dealing with the topic of Linux migration. These customers will speak about the processes and considerations they have had to make along the road to their Linux migration strategy, hopefully providing valuable information to other customers embarking on this process."
On the business front, Brainshare 2004 will feature a track dedicated to the businessman, straight after the keynote discussion on the first day of the conference.
"We`ve realised the benefits of speaking to our customers in a language they can understand and we`re expecting a great response from this track since it focuses firmly on solving the business challenges the market is facing today," says Barwick.
Aptly called BusinessShare, this track will feature key strategists from Novell`s US operation who will speak extensively on relevant business topics like the technology integration challenges faced by businesses today, security and the move towards identity management, the savings businesses can realise through the use of desktop and software management tools and the reasons why Linux is ready for the enterprise.
BusinessShare will also feature presentations from Ernst and Young, who will be showcasing a blueprint on service delivery and companies Novell partners with at a vendor level, namely Oracle, BEA and HP.
This year`s partner pavilion will include representation from Novell`s top partners including Accpac, APC, BEA, Computer Associates, Obsidian Systems, EpiUse, GWAVA, HP, Intellireach, IntoWeb, Omni-TS, Oracle and RPC Data.
"The partner pavilion provides customers with an excellent opportunity to see Novell technology in action, in the real world environment. As an added benefit, more detail on the implementations focused on in the pavilion will be presented in the general sessions by the same group of partners," Barwick says.
For the more technical, Brainshare`s technology lab will allow attendees to get down to the nitty-gritty, with presentations from business experts including arivia.kom, CKB, Cooperative Computing, Easy Access, Eclipse, PC Ware, NetCB, Titan IT, TSS and Ubusha. These partners will also offer attendees live demos focused on Extend, Secure Identity Management, Novell Resource Management including Red Carpet, Open Enterprise Server and GroupWise on Linux.
Technical attendees will also be interested in attending Brainshare`s hands on labs which cover topics such as SUSE Linux and Ximian Fundamental, GroupWise 6.5 Migration, implementing ZEN for Desktops and Novell Nterprise Linux Services.
More specifically, attendees should make a point of attending the hands on lab hosted by BEA who will be looking at integration in detail. Likewise, attendees wanting to learn more about the Linux platform should attend the hands on lab hosted by Oracle, who has based its strategy going forward on this Open Source operating system.
"Overall, we believe that Brainshare 2004 will give our existing customers a good overview of Novell`s offerings, with a strong focus on our Linux strategy moving forward. And, since partnership is a key component to Novell`s delivery on its Linux and Open Source promise, Brainshare 2004 will be an excellent opportunity for customers to interact with the companies that form a part of our Linux eco-system in SA," Barwick concludes.
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