BTR Academy - Open Source in the Enterprise Datacenter

On 26/11/2011 the Infrastructure Services division organized its first BTR Academy.

The goal was to discuss the use of Open Source in the datacenter. Most of us know e.g. Linux when downloading from the internet and using it on our desktop. But how many of us know about deploying and managing Linux in a large datacenter? With the support of Redhat and Altimate we came together on a sunny Saturday morning in the hotel Ter Elst in Edegem. 

After a nice breakfast we took off for a journey on Open Source, Linux, and Desktop virtualization with this agenda:

• Open Source in the Datacenter - Hans Dillen, Team leader UNIX & Storage at BTR Services
• How to use Red Hat tools to promote RHEL as a Datacenter Operating System - Frederic Hornain, Solution Architect at Red Hat Benelux
• Linux and Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) - Vincent Van der Kussen, System Engineer Open Systems at BTR Services
• The added value of BTR Services in your Datacenter - Johny Vermaelen, Business Development Manager at BTR Services.

In a 2-hour technical session the Infrastructure Division of BTR Services tried to get answer to questions like:

• Is open source ready for the Enterprise?
• How should it be implemented in large datacenters?
• What about high availability (HA) or management of hundreds of Linux servers?
• Is it really free?

Often when talking about Linux gurus we think about nerds sitting behind their desktop for hours and hours and hours … In the Infrastructure Services’ Division we have several IT gurus, each a specialist in his own specific domain. But we are also active in Infra ..culture (?) services. During a small break our lead architect Frédéric entertained the audience with some classic piano music.

The BTR Academy ended with a demo on virtual desktops, some hands-on and a couple of discussions.