The Open Horizons EMEA Tour and African Summit that took place from 21 to 23 May 2009 was a remarkable success.  The Open Horizons EMEA Tour and African Summit was facilitated and made a reality by our proud sponsors, and I would like to make use of this formal opportunity to thank them for their continued support.  Without them we would not be able to provide the quality events to the Novell community that they deserve.

During the EMEA Tour topics like Novell Teaming+Conferencing, ZenWork Configuration Management, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, and off course GroupWise 8 were thoroughly covered from a theoretical aspect.

After the EMEA Tour, some of the delegates joined us for the African Summit.  For 2009 the beautiful Zebra Mountain Lodge was chosen as the venue of choice, and judging by the feedback received from the delegates, this was a perfect venue.  The staff at the lodge was friendly, food was exquisite and everyone couldn’t stop talking about the spacious rooms and beautiful gardens.  Some of the international speakers and sponsors also made use of this opportunity to go on a game drive or two and experience the African wildlife in its natural wildlife.  On the Friday evening everyone was treated to a Boma Braai.  The lodge arranged for 4x4 vehicles that drove everyone to the top of the hill where a traditional South African braai was held under the African Sky.

True to its nature, the African Summit gave delegates the opportunity to experience the Novell technologies hands-on through 3.5 hour lab sessions.  Every delegate had their own laptop and were guided by technology specialists through the sometimes dark and unknown territories of installing and configuration various products.

If you would like to see some beautiful pictures taken during this event, please feel free to visit the website of one of our international speakers, Sander van Vugt, at the following address:
http://sandervanvugt.nl/fotos/2009/AfricanSummit/album/

If you missed out on these events this year, keep your eyes and ears posted.  The dates for next year’s events will be finalised towards the end of 2009, and judging by the fact that we almost doubled the amount of delegates from 2008 to 2009, this event will only grow from strength to strength.