Recap OSAD: Open Source for open ears

Last Thursday, October 19, it was finally here – the day we had been looking forward to for so long: our Open Source Automation Day at BMW Welt Munich. For most of us, the day started very early.
The ATIX crew arrived at 7:30 a.m. from all over Munich to make the final preparations on site.

Once we had equipped the conference room with all the necessary utensils and positioned our ATIX Minis correctly in front of BMW Welt, the day could begin. We welcomed the first guests from around 09:00. After the welcome, they enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast buffet with a view over BMW Welt. The starting signal was given punctually at 9:30 a.m.: Ingrid Harner, Head of Marketing and Sales at ATIX AG, welcomed all OSAD participants and presented the agenda for the upcoming conference.

She was followed by Mark Hlawatschek, Chairman of ATIX AG. After a brief welcome to the participants, he began with his presentation “Simplify your Datacenter – IT Automation”. In it, he took a nostalgic look into the past and explained the growing importance of automation over the course of time.

Thomas Gräz, Sales Engineer at SUSE, also maintained the historical reference: In his keynote, he presented SUSE in the new world of the data center. He revealed that some of the visions that were implemented with the introduction of assembly line work are still valid today for automation in data centers.

Afterwards, the participants were able to discuss what they had heard during the first coffee break. Our Business Development Manager Martin Weiß and Bernhard Suttner, our Head of Software Development, heralded the next round with their presentation. They explained exciting details and functionalities of orcharhino in relation to the manufacturer-independent automation of data centers.

Immediately afterwards, Danijel Vrbanec, Head of System & Networking Technology, presented how orcharhino is successfully used at RI-Solution. After so much information, the participants had well and truly earned their lunch: in fine weather, most of them enjoyed pumpkin ravioli, pike-perch fillet and duck on the terrace of BMW Welt with a view of the Olympic Park.

The afternoon session began with a prominent guest from the world of politics: Member of the Bavarian Parliament Ernst Weidenbusch presented the ten-point plan for digitalization in Bavaria and commented on open source funding. In the keynote speech that followed, things got a little more technical again: Dr. Jonas Trüstedt, who works for us as an IT consultant, illustrated the ideas and advantages of container platforms.

After a final round of coffee, we started the grand finale. We were delighted to welcome Dimitri Tischenko, Principal Sales Engineer at Puppet. He not only presented functionalities, but also gave an overview of current developments at Puppet. The last presentation on the agenda was that of our IT consultant Dr. Bernhard Hopfenmüller: he illustrated the setup of configuration management with Ansible and explained why it is particularly suitable for smart DevOps.

The first thing to do now was to process the news gained during the day and discuss it in peace. Of course, this is best done over a drink in a cozy atmosphere. So we enjoyed the great weather on the roof terrace together with numerous participants and had many lively conversations.

Shortly after we had said goodbye to most of the guests, we were faced with a small challenge when it came to dismantling: Due to a closed event, we had to transport the equipment we had brought back to our small “truck” in a roundabout way. But of course the ATIX crew wouldn’t be the ATIX crew if we hadn’t worked together and overcome this hurdle – and a little tour with a view of BMW Welt from above makes up for it 😉
Once everything was stowed away, it was time for us to call it a day and the ATIX Minis headed back to Unterschleißheim.

Once everything was stowed away, it was time for us to call it a day and the ATIX Minis headed back to Unterschleißheim.

So much for the day from our point of view. What remains to be said? A big thank you to all the speakers and participants. You did a great job, we had great discussions and thanks to you we had a really great day!

We hope you feel the same and will be back at the next OSAD.

For those who were unfortunately unable to attend this time, we have made all the presentations available on our website and on Slideshare. If you have any questions about them, you can contact us at any time.