Announcements:

Nominations are open for Paris Open Source Think Tank Business Cases.     View details.


A detailed summary of the spring Napa Think Tank is now available.
2010 US Think Tank whitepaper


View Napa Think Tank follow on webinars at the Olliance download center.
“How the Public Sector is using Open Source to meet its Budget Challenges”
presented on August 17, 2010, and

“Enterprise Open Source Software Procurement and Support Best Practices”
presented on July 15, 2010.

 

The Open Source Think Tank is structured as a “think tank,” not as a typical industry conference. The event has been specifically designed to facilitate thought provoking discussions, challenge the attendee’s perceptions through interaction with all elements of the ecosystem and encourage contribution from every industry segment. This is accomplished through a mixed set of activities each day, consisting of Group Discussions, Brainstorming Sessions, CIO Panels and Organized Networking and Social Activities.

The purpose of the Think Tank is for all segments of the ecosystem to openly share their concerns, issues, experiences, and common problems, while collaboratively developing solutions.

Who is Invited?

This event is an invitation-only conference for CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, legal experts, investors and other senior executives. It is a working conference and all participants are expected to actively contribute. It is our commitment to all attendees that every participant is knowledgeable about the commercial aspects of open source and is in a leadership position in their organizations with regard to open source and cloud computing.

If you are interested and meet the conference qualifications, please request an invitation..

Group Sessions

All attendees meet together in the group sessions held twice per day. At the beginning of each group session a topic and/or case study is introduced for everyone to review and discuss before splitting up into smaller brainstorming teams. At the end of each brainstorm session, the full conference meets again to hear presentations from each brainstorming team, discuss findings and attempt to develop consensus (although success is not necessarily defined by achieving consensus). The larger group then attempts to consolidate industry observations and recommendations which will be documented in the final event whitepaper.

Brainstorming Sessions

Each brainstorm team will have participants representing every industry segment: open source vendors, large OEMs and ISVs, mid-market ISVs, industry analysts, end user CIOs and investors. A member from each group, selected prior to the event and fully prepared, leads the individual group discussions. At the end of the brainstorming sessions, each team presents its findings to the full group.

Two of the brainstorming sessions will be in the form of real-world business cases. The purpose of the business cases is to challenge attendees to discuss practical solutions to real situations, assess alternatives and share the reasoning behind choices, examine opportunity costs and provide a final recommendation. The business cases will be introduced by a handout distributed two weeks ahead of the event with a 15 minute overview presented by the Olliance Team and representatives from the entity behind the case study at the start of the session. The introduction will be followed by two one-hour team meetings and concluded with 45 minutes of group presentations and discussion.

Panel Discussions

• Open source adoption
• The evolution of cloud computing
• M&A stories from an insider’s perspective

The conference features several panel discussions. Leading CIOs will participate in a panel in order to provide the 'open source consumer' perspective. CEOs from three recently acquired open source companies will discuss lessons on exit strategies.