OpenStack is used to power public and private clouds across the entire world, industries including research institutions, government agencies, financial institutions, ecommerce firms, media companies, and many more all rely upon OpenStack to run their cloud computing.
What helps make OpenStack truly unique though, is its community driven spirit. The wider community of users and developers run local conferences and workshops around the world to help promote education, understanding, and use of OpenStack. Without this community engagement, it is unlikely that OpenStack would be as widely adopted as it has become.
One of the largest community run conferences is OpenStack Nordic, an annual gathering of some of the best minds using and developing OpenStack from across the globe. It was born out of a desire amongst OpenStack users to grow their community; OpenStack had not been as organically adopted in Scandinavia as it had been in places like the US or Asia, so they decided to bring the community together to provide a space for collaboration and innovation. OpenStack Nordic has been running for several years now and this year, because of the growing demand, they have expanded their workshops and keynotes across two days rather than one.
The line-up for the weekend is decided almost entirely by the community; sponsorships, keynotes, and all the content are picked by committee from an open application system to ensure everyone has equal opportunity to contribute. Thierry Carrez, Vice-President of Engineering at the OpenStack Foundation and a keynote speaker for this year’s conference, is particularly enthusiastic about the amount of input the community can have at the event:
“The OpenStack Nordic event last year in Stockholm was a big success: lots of attendees from various backgrounds, interesting talks and great organization. The community in the area is very active and motivated, and it was a pleasure to attend last year. I’m very happy to be able to talk again at the event!”
The event takes place in October (18th-19th) at the Tivoli Hotel & Congress Center in Copenhagen and will cover everything from cloud strategy to best practices for operations and deep technical education and discussion. The entire conference is founded upon three key goals:
This year’s OpenStack Nordic will feature more technical and in-depth education and discussion, following community demand to get into the gritty details of Open Stack. As it is a community driven event, they have very little desire to self-promote, stating that they are focused on educating everyone about OpenStack itself – they want to foster understanding rather than pushing the product!
Whilst the full line-up has yet to be confirmed, we already know that there is plenty to look forward to. Workshops and Keynotes on developer tools, new research, and emerging domains are set to run across the two days, allowing veterans and beginners alike to broaden their knowledge and skillset.
You can check out our event page for OpenStack Nordic here.
By Josh Hamilton
