Open Source Leaders from Around the Globe to Meet at Second Annual Think Tank March 8 - 10 at the Silverado Country Club in California Wine Country

Chris Anderson, editor of Wired Magazine and author of “The Long Tail,” to keynote

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The Open Source Think Tank is accepting applications to attend the second annual gathering of leading industry insiders for three days of hands-on, brainstorm-style sessions addressing the future of open source software and commerce.

The annual conference, “Think Tank 2007: The Future of Commercial Open Source,” is an exclusive, invitation-only event being held March 8 – 10 at the Silverado Country Club in Napa, California. Participation is limited to 120 people. Details on how to apply are available on the Web at http://thinktank.olliancegroup.com and the cost to attend is $1,050, not including lodging and other travel expenses.

Think Tank 2007 is a unique event in the open source industry. Sessions are small, facilitated by an industry peer, and designed to challenge conventional thinking about open source and business. Two CIO panels will provide a strong voice of the customer. Noted author and Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson will be the keynote on Friday, March 9, speaking on “The Impact of Open Source, The Long Tail, and Commerce.”

Think Tank 2007 is hosted by the Olliance Group, a leading open source management consulting firm, and DLA Piper, a global law firm with 3,200 lawyers in 24 countries and a leading advisor to the open source industry. The event is supported by JasperSoft, Microsoft, NEC, Novell, OpenLogic, SugarCRM and Unisys.

“We’re very excited to be working with the current sponsors. We accepted only a limited number so the focus would remain on content and relationship building and not marketing,” said Mark Radcliffe, senior partner, DLA Piper and Chair of the DLA Piper’s Open Source Practice Group.

Think Tank 2007 builds on the success of the debut Think Tank held last year in Sunnyvale, California that included representatives from leading vendors such as HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, SAP and Sun Microsystems as well as community leaders such as Doc Searls and Tim O’Reilly. CIOs spoke from organizations that included the Bank of America and the State of California.

“Last year’s event was ground breaking in its format and the usefulness of the content generated. Our attendees reported that they wanted more time to discuss more of the industry’s key issues in more depth and so we chose to expand the format and move the venue to Napa,” said Andrew Aitken, managing partner, Olliance Group.

Think Tank 2007 kicks off Thursday evening, March 8 with a networking reception. Friday evening features a wine reception followed by a sit down dinner at the exclusive Silverado Country Club.

Friday and Saturday sessions, in addition to the CIO panels, will focus on small breakout working groups that will explore emerging business models for open source – what works and what doesn’t – licensing and IP issues, how usage models are evolving for open source software, the impact of commerce on the open source development community, and other topics that make today’s headlines in the open source industry.

Highlights of Think Tank 2007 will be captured in a white paper to be published shortly after the conference and made available for free to all.

About Think Tank 2007.
The premier industry networking event for open source, Think Tank 2007 will be held March 8-10 at the Silverado Country Club in Napa, California. Organized by the Olliance Group and DLA Piper, Think Tank is supported by JasperSoft, Microsoft, NEC, Novell, OpenLogic, SugarCRM and Unisys. To apply for an invitation, please visit http://thinktank.olliancegroup.com

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Editorial and Media Requests Contact:
Lonn Johnston
Page One PR for Think Tank 2007
lonn@pageonepr.com
Tel: 650-565-9800 x701