PUTTING SRI LANKA ON THE MAP - Abstract

Sri Lanka will be on the software developers' map when it hosts ApacheCon Asia for the first time in Asia this August. Over three hundred Sri Lankan and international open source software developers are expected to attend this conference which is scheduled to be held at the Trans Asia Hotel in Colombo from August 14th to 17th.

This event aims to create a unique platform for the open source community in Asia to come together and gain an insight into techniques and methodologies critical to the advancement of open source technologies - which is now growing into a force to reckon with in the international IT industry.

The conference will be a meeting ground for the big players, project leaders, inside experts and independent innovators. In addition the participants will be able to share their knowledge, hit upon new ideas, find solutions and connect with peers at this gathering of users, developers, and vendors sponsored by the Apache Software Foundation (ASF).

"The Apache Software Foundation is the home of many market leading open source products, starting with the Apache Web server. It is an honor for Sri Lanka to host the first ever Asian gathering of this prestigious group!" says Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana a member of the Apache Software Foundation, and Founder & Director of the Lanka Software Foundation, which is hosting the conference.

The ASF which is the organization behind the Apache HTTP server that runs about 70% of all sites on the Internet and a multitude of other open source projects, provides support for the Apache community of open source software projects.

ASF projects are characterized by a collaborative, consensus based development process, an open and pragmatic software license, and a desire to create high quality software that leads the way in its field. Apache considers itself not simply as a group of projects sharing a server, but rather a community of developers and users. They believe that if one builds a good community then that community will make great software.

" The conference begins with two days that offer a wide range of beginner, intermediate and advanced sessions, aimed at both the developer and the user. ApacheCon Asia will offer attendees a choice of two tracks and more than 16 sessions to gain real-world insight into the latest developments of many key open source projects managed by ASF.

The conference features world renowned speakers from Sri Lanka, Germany, USA, France, Austria, Vietnam, Norway, Canada, India, Spain and South Korea."

"Another interesting event on the program which usually doesn't happen in local IT conferences and seminars will be the BoFs, meaning Birds of a Feather (flocking together!)sessions. This is an informal discussion group where one can speak their mind out.

They are often formed ad hoc to consider a specific issue and, therefore, have a narrow focus. During the duration of the ApacheCon main conference a four day 'hackathon' is being organized, which is a continuous marathon of coding relating to Apache project of ones choice." Dr Sanjiva Weerawarana said.

The conference is locally organized by the Lanka Software Foundation, the Lanka Linux Users' Group and The Linux Center, all of which are non-profit organizations driving the Sri Lankan FOSS community.