Who are we?
In 1986, the Belgian UNIX systems Users
Group (B.U.U.G.) was founded as a non-profit organisation.
On March 1, 1996 the boards of the Belgian
UNIX system Users Group, under the leading of Mr. Marc Nyssen (Vrije
Universiteit Brussel), and of the Belgian Open Systems Supporters,
under the leading of Philippe Brachotte (SAP Belgium), were pleased to
announce the merger of both organisations into the Open Technology
Assembly. The Open Technology
Assembly is funded by its members. This guarantees an impartial and
cost-conscious non-profit organisation, independent from any commercial
influence. The Open
Technology Assembly is a forum for open systems, basing its activities
on the needs of its members. All members have the opportunity to submit
ideas for conferences, special interest groups and articles in order to
keep the Open Technology Assembly focused at the open systems-actuality.
The points of interest of the members result
in concrete actions of the Open Technology Assembly. This way, the
Open
Technology Assembly is a forum to keep you informed of the developments
in the Open Systems world and to meet other Open Systems users.
The basic mission statement of the Open
Technology Assembly is to provide a forum for exchange of vendor independent
technical information about Open Information Technology. The focus will
not be limited to the UNIX operating system but also to the portability
from and to other operating systems as well as the interoperability of
various IT hardware and software elements.
Services offered by the OTA
The Open Technology Assembly provides
a means to exchange information and experience between users of Open Systems
and manufacturers of software and hardware used in Open Systems.
In order to promote a set of information
services 'à la carte' to technical and non-technical users of Open
Systems, the Open Technology Assembly will focus on the following
three objectives:
- Elucidating from a neutral point of view,
the evolution of Open Systems in general, and the movement towards new
technologies and their coexistence with existing core platforms such as
UNIX, in particular.
- Following on line the impact of the evolution
of Unified UNIX and new UNIX versions regarding the development of portable
applications.
- Sharing regularly feedback and testimonials
from large users on the way they use Open Systems in providing IT solutions,
relevant for the business area on which they do focus.
This is done, among others, by:
- Seminars on Open
Systems topics: these seminars are organised about four times
a year with the participation of hardware and software vendors combined
with the experience from users from the private and the academic sector.
This way, the Open Technology Assembly can anticipate on the needs
and interests of the Belgian Open Systems community. OTA members can attend
the conferences and tutorials at special rates, mostly free of charge for
conferences although a reasonable fee would be asked for tutorials (see
the events calendar).
- A dynamic presence
on the World Wide Web: the homepage on the World Wide Web contains
the following information: general information about the Open Technology
Assembly, activity agenda and subscription possibility, publications,
information and news of the Special Interest groups,... The homepage can
be found on http://www.ota.be
- Special Interest
Groups: the SIG's organise and deliver a specific set of information
and services as well as developing activities for its target users group.
- the LINUX Special
Interest Group: this SIG is a bridge between the fast evolving
Linux Internet activity and the belgian Linux users.
- Mailings:
the Open Technology Assembly keeps its members informed about upcoming
events and a agenda of other events organised in Belgium which could be
of interest to OTA-members.
- Contact with other
international organisations: OSF , Usenix, Uniforum, EurOpen,
X/Open
- Contact with manufacturers
of Open Systems: the Open Technology Assembly organises open
doors and evening visits to major vendors and manufacturers.
- Price discounts with
several publishers: members of the Open Technology Assembly
have price discounts with the publishers ITP O'Reilly, Addison Wesley and
Prentice Hall. These publications can be bought at our conferences.
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