This year the Systems fair will take place from October 23rd till 27th in Munich. This time the focal point will be among other things on open source and solutions for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs). “Open source issues had already been touched in the last two editions of the fair and we noticed that there was a growing interest in this kind of solutions” explains Mr. Klaus Dittrich, managing director of the Messe München (MMI), the choice of this year´s topic.
It will be the first time, however, that a whole complex of open source software issues will be dealt with. Furthermore, there will be a conference taking place at which participants discuss the implementation of Linux in municipalities, administrative bodies and SMEs. “The discussion on whether Microsoft or Linux should be used in companies is over. In the meantime decision makers have realized that both systems can and should be implemented side by side” says Dittrich.
This year´s exhibition will particularly concentrate on small and medium-sized entities. “The Forum Mittelstand addresses itself to companies not having an IT department or anyone in charge of this and due to the costs cannot afford outsourcing either. In such companies most of the time the maintenance of IT systems is taken charge of by those employees who most show an interest in IT and electronic data processing issues” says Dittrich. The fair will address these requirements by means of a model company. More than 60 expertes will give advice on IT and TC solutions “using a language which can also easily be understood by non-IT-experts”, continues Mr. Dittrich.
“Being a B2B exhibition the Systems is particulary tailored to the requirements of its visitors. The fair site is of manageable size providing short ways thereby enabling visitors to attend nine appointments daily on average” says Dittrich adding that 43 percent of visitors dispose of an investment budged of more than 50.000 Euros. 