[ANN] ApacheCon US and OFBiz Symposium updates; registration open!

[ApacheCon US 2008 <cu...@apache.org>]

Remember: early bird rates go up in mid-August, so register soon!


ApacheCon US and OFBiz Symposium bring together the Apache Community
in New Orleans, November 3-7

ApacheCon US to hold new BarCamp at 2008 conference and host 
Voluntourism Day


New Orleans, LA – July 30, 2008 - ApacheCon US, the official user
conference of The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), will host new
features at this year's US conference to bring the Apache community
closer together, including a new BarCamp, a Voluntourism Day, and the
social networking site CrowdVine. The conference schedule has been
published and registration is open. Register by August 15 to receive
Early Bird discount prices.

The Apache Open For Business (OFBiz) Symposium is co-locating with
ApacheCon US, bringing a new community of users to the event.
Attendees will be able to mix-and-match the tracks from both
conferences and have the opportunity to network with submitters,
experts, and users.

New at ApacheCon is BarCampApache, (November 4). The BarCamp will be
the first Apache-focused, participant-driven unconference, gathering
people interested in The ASF and its various projects to share and
learn in an open environment. BarCampApache will be intense with
discussions, demos and interaction from participants packed into an
ad-hoc event. The BarCamp is free, but due to limited space,
pre-registration is required.

A special added feature of ApacheCon is Camp Hadoop, (November 6-7).
Camp sessions will focus on Apache Hadoop, the platform being utilized
by organizations to deliver petabyte scale computing and storage on
commodity hardware, and by academic and industrial research groups to
teach data parallel computing.  Hadoop developers and users will
review new projects and case studies of Hadoop applications while
participating in interactive discussions on the platform's future.

For the first time ApacheCon will host a Voluntourism Day on November
8, a day focused on lending a hand to the New Orleans area. The ASF
has always emphasized "community over code" and now it will put that
motto into action by assisting and supporting another community in
need.  Full details on the Voluntourism Day will be announced in
September.

"New Orleans is still in many ways suffering from the aftereffects of
Hurricane Katrina. Our goal is to utilize The ASF's ideals of openness
and collaboration to embrace the city's people and culture and work
together to bring change.  We have a truly dedicated community writing
Open Source code and we hope our participants will stay to support the
Voluntourism Day," said Lars Eilebrecht, Vice President of Conference
Planning, ASF.

Prior to this year's conference, ApacheCon US will create a social
networking platform to help attendees, speakers, and sponsors to
exchange information and ideas leading up to the event in order to
foster a stronger sense of community. Users of the ApacheCon CrowdVine
site can create a personal profile outlining their interests, network
with other users, and write blog posts.

Also joining the ApacheCon community in New Orleans are dedicated
sponsors and exhibitors including CrowdVine, Day Software, Google,
Hewlett-Packard, Hippo, HotWax Media, IONA, Linux Journal, Media
Temple, SpringSource, WSO2, and Yahoo! These sponsors play an integral
role in supporting Open Source technology and contributing to emerging
trends in the industry. Sponsorship opportunities are still available.
For details contact Delia Frees at delia@apachecon.com.

About ApacheCon US 2008

ApacheCon is the official user conference of The Apache Software
Foundation (ASF), drawing ASF Members, innovators, developers,
vendors, and users to experience the future of Open Source
development.  The 2008 US event will take place in New Orleans from
November 3-7.

The most influential platform dialogue amongst the Apache community at
large, ApacheCon is the must-attend user and developer forum
showcasing key Apache and Open Source technologies. Attendees meet,
mingle, and exchange ideas with like-minded participants on
groundbreaking technologies and emerging industry trends, through
informal networking, peer discussions, Birds-of-a-Feather sessions,
and entertaining social events.

Drawing internationally-renowned thought-leaders, contributors,
influencers, and organizations in the Open Source community, ApacheCon
offers insight into the culture and community that develops and
shepherds industry-leading Open Source projects, including Apache HTTP
Server—the world's most popular Web server software for ten years
running.

To find more information about ApacheCon US 2008 please visit
http://www.us.apachecon.com

###

Media Contacts:
Prompt Communications LLC on behalf of ApacheCon
James Gerber / Lisa Facinelli
Tel: 617 576 5763
jgerber@prompt-communications.com / lfacinelli@prompt-communications.com


- Shane Curcuru & The ApacheCon US 2008 Team
   http://us.apachecon.com/  3-7 November -- New Orleans, Louisiana
   http://apacheconus2008.crowdvine.com/