Obsidian Systems to host Yugabyte CTO

Johannesburg, 05 May 2023

David Walker, Field CTO for EMEA at Yugabyte.

Obsidian Systems, a supplier of open source software solutions, is excited to announce that it will host David Walker, Field CTO for EMEA at Yugabyte, in May, for a special visit to South Africa. The visit aims to strengthen the partnership between Obsidian Systems and Yugabyte, expand Yugabyte's presence in the region and provide local businesses with valuable insights into the advantages of adopting distributed SQL databases.

Yugabyte positions itself as a global leader in providing high-performance, distributed SQL databases, helping organisations scale and manage their data more efficiently. Its flagship product, YugabyteDB, is an open source, cloud-native and highly resilient distributed database that supports PostgreSQL and Cassandra APIs, catering to a wide array of enterprise applications and use cases.

"We are thrilled to host David. This visit highlights our commitment to bringing the best database technology solutions to our clients and the local business community," says Muggie van Staden, Managing Director of Obsidian Systems.

Walker brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this visit, with a 30-year technology career dedicated to helping companies exploit data across various industries, such as financial services, fintech, retail, telco, manufacturing, transportation and the public sector.

Prior to joining Yugabyte in 2020, Walker held the position of Interim CTO at P27 Nordic Payments and served as the Enterprise Programme Director and Chief Architect of Global Enterprise Data Platforms at Worldpay, in London. In his previous roles, he implemented crucial systems for several high-profile organisations, including the Dutch National Police, Diageo, Network Rail, Turkcell and Telkom SA.

"David's extensive experience and expertise in the field make him an invaluable resource in driving innovation and growth. We are confident that this partnership between Obsidian Systems and Yugabyte will empower businesses in the region to scale and manage their data more effectively, while fostering stronger relationships between our companies,” says Van Staden.

During his visit, Walker will engage with Obsidian Systems clients and local businesses, discussing innovative solutions and best practices in database management. This collaboration between Yugabyte and Obsidian Systems showcases the commitment both companies have towards delivering cutting-edge technology solutions and supporting the growth of businesses in South Africa and beyond.

An online public panel discussion with Yugabyte will be held on Wednesday, 17 May, inviting knowledgeable experts to share their experiences and insights on working with various databases. To participate or nominate someone, submit a brief bio or summary of experience at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/98PK23Q.

If you would like to meet with David Walker while he is in South Africa, we will be hosting an open day. Please contact marketing@obsidian.co.za.

Obsidian Systems

Obsidian Systems is an established supplier of Smarter Hybrid IT Open Source software solutions. The company was started in 1995 as a modest services provider targeting businesses and organisations looking to integrate and leverage off Linux infrastructure.

Obsidian Systems has expanded by partnering with Autumn Leaf and RadixTrie.

Our group of companies forms a formidable team who strives to find “smarter” ways to unlock the enterprise potential of applying Open Source solutions to deliver on your Hybrid IT strategy.

We specialise in retail and subscription management services; vendor-certified products and local skills providing support, compliance, testing and observability for managed services; consulting, architecting and software services to support hybrid IT strategies for your business across all of your data centres, branches, IaaS, PaaS and edge devices for everything:

Teams
Code
Platform
Data

We specialise in innovative offerings built on the latest open source technology. Our latest being a hybrid IT management platform called TACO that delivers a single pane of glass to automate, test, comply and observe your complete hybrid IT environment no matter where it is.

Obsidian Systems is a Level 1 contributor to Broad-based Black Economic empowered supplier of open source software solutions in South Africa. We help teams to get their code to the best compute and the correct data.

Telephone: 0860 4 LINUX (0860 4 54689) Telephone (International): (+27) 11 795 0200

Physical Address: Unit 5 Tandridge Office Park, Ateljee Street, Randpark Ridge 2154, South Africa

Postal Address: P.O. Box 4938, Cresta, 2118, South Africa

Yugabyte

Yugabyte is the company behind YugabyteDB, the open source, high-performance distributed SQL database for building global, cloud-native applications. YugabyteDB serves business-critical applications with SQL query flexibility, high performance, and cloud-native agility, thus allowing enterprises to focus on business growth instead of complex data infrastructure management. It is trusted by companies in cybersecurity, financial markets, IoT, retail, e-commerce, and other verticals. Founded in 2016 by former Facebook and Oracle engineers, Yugabyte is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, 8VC, Dell Technologies Capital, Sapphire Ventures, and others. www.yugabyte.com.

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