Obsidian Systems will be celebrating ten years of Linux and open source advocacy in the local market, and an accompanying new corporate image, at South Africa"s first LinuxWorld conference and exhibition.

Says MD of Obsidian, Muggie van Staden: "It is hard to believe that Obsidian has reached the point in its lifecycle where it is known as a veteran of the local Linux market. We think ten years of successful operation in any market is a strong achievement and in celebrating ten years focus on the Linux and open source markets. We have incorporated something old and something new into a more modern corporate image, that we believe will serve us well in the coming decade."

Van Staden says some exciting things will be taking place on Obsidian"s stand during the course of the week. "Our stand will play host to thought-provoking talks from our experts on business topics that include the top seven reasons why customers should certify their technicians as Red Hat Certified Engineers (RHCEs), why customers should be comfortable with paying for Linux solutions and combating today"s threats of spam using open source software; technical topics like installing and managing Linux net boot PCs, making best use of LDAP infrastructures and setting up content management with Drupal; and more open source community-focused topics."

He adds that a further two notebooks will be present on the stand, and that these will be used for more technical demos, of which he says there will be plenty. "We are extremely positive about the quality of attendee this exhibition will attract," Van Staden concludes, "and what will make this show particularly valuable to attendees is the fact that Obsidian"s stand will be surrounded by the two Linux heavyweights, namely Red Hat and Novell, and the applications heavyweight in the Linux space, namely Oracle."