ApacheCon Europe 2008 pulls in record crowds -- Free Video Streams Now Online

[ApacheCon Europe <la...@apache.org>]

Open Source booms as ApacheCon Europe 2008 pulls in record crowds

Official European conference of The Apache Software Foundation
achieved 40% growth in registered attendee numbers and stronger
sponsorship from leading tech organisations, signifying greater
awareness, interest and investment in Open Source technology in
Europe.


Amsterdam -  29 April 2008 - ApacheCon Europe, the official
conference of The Apache Software Foundation, has announced that the
2008 event, held in April, attracted higher than ever attendance
figures, with 496 registered attendees for this year's event.
This figure represents an increase of more than 40% over the
previous year, demonstrating the rapidly growing interest in Open
Source software amongst European businesses. 

Further proof of the increasing take-up of Open Source technology
was demonstrated by the fact that all of the pre-conference training
sessions, including the new two-day training events, were nearly
sold out. The conference also attracted a larger number of sponsors
this year, including several high profile partners such as Google,
Hewlett Packard, and Yahoo!. 

Lars Eilebrecht, Vice President of Conference Planning, Apache
Software Foundation said, "The success of this year's ApacheCon
Europe provides a clear signal that Open Source technology is now a
significant component of the European IT landscape. Organisations
throughout Europe are increasingly recognising the many benefits
that Open Source software offers over its proprietary counterparts,
and this is reflected in their increased spending on Open Source
training and development."

Several distinguished keynote speakers attended the 2008 conference
including Cliff Schmidt from Literacy Bridge, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh
from the Open Source Initiative and Roy Fielding from Day Software.
This event was supported by CrowdVine for Conferences
(http://apacheconeu2008.crowdvine.com/), a social networking site
designed to help delegates, sponsors and speakers make the most of
their time at the conference. And for the first time, Linux New
Media provided a live streaming of the Keynotes and one track each
day. You can view these at 
http://streaming.linux-magazin.de/en/archive_apachecon08eu.htm.
The keynotes are available for free and the other talks are
available for 49 Euro.

The response from bloggers who attended the conference has been
overwhelmingly positive, with comments such as the following finding
their way onto the blogosphere:

"The last five days I have been in Amsterdam to attend
ApacheCon. The conference this year, as always, was really amazing.
The presentations I attended were absolutely on the top-level."
- Petar Tahchiev
http://weblogs.java.net/blog/paranoiabla/archive/2008/04/apachecon_in_am.html

"I presented twice at ApacheCon Europe last week. Both times
the room was full - I think ApacheCon Europe is starting to have a
bit of buzz that wasn't there before. The conversations were
excellent." - Paul Fremantle
http://pzf.fremantle.org/2008/04/presentations-from-apachecon.html

"This was my first ApacheCon, I really enjoyed myself. Many
thanks to the sponsors and organisers for a great event." -
Jeremy Quinn http://blog.fiveone.org/2008/04/apachegone.html

The ApacheCon Planning Committee wants to thank all the speakers,
attendees and the sponsors, exhibitors, media and community
partners  - Accenture, The Apache Software Foundation, Cloudmark,
Covalent & Spring Source, Crowdvine, Day, Feather Cast, Google, HALO
Worldwide, Hippo, Hewlett Packard, IONA, JTeam, Linux Magazine,
Linux New Media, SkillsMatter, SOPERA, ThinkGeek, Wifisoft.Org,
WSO2, and Yahoo!.

The next ApacheCon will be held in the United States, in the
beautiful city of New Orleans in November of this year. For more
information please visit http://www.us.apachecon.com or email
info-2008-us@apachecon.com. Sponsorship opportunities are now
available - please contact Delia@apachecon.com


About ApacheCon Europe 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 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 twelve years running.

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