Open is the Future of Internet Services – Europe’s largest Open Cloud Summit lands in Munich

Aug. 14, 2014 - PRLog -- Nuremburg, Germany – Open-Xchange Summit, the annual meeting  for the most influential Cloud and IT industry leaders and developers, returns in late September to Munich, Germany's third largest city and innovation capital. With a program of events running from the 17th to the 20th September, the conference takes place at the Muffatwerk, a former hydroelectric power station built on the banks of the Isar river in the heart of Munich. OX Summit 2014 ends just in time for the traditional Oktoberfest beer festival; where delegates are free to stay on to experience the world-famous Bavarian fair for further networking and discussion.

The Summit itself, scheduled for Thursday 18th, will be officially opened with a keynote address entitled ‘Switch to Open: Why an Honest Business Model is so Important’ from Rafael Laguna, CEO Open-Xchange. He will be joined on stage by data protection advocate Aral Balkan, who will deliver a guest keynote address entitled ‘Free is a Lie’.

Other speakers include Christian Dawson of i2 Coalition, Paul Sijben of Ziggo, Peer Heinlein of Mailbox.org and Francesco Fraccalvieri of Telecom Italia. Attendees will experience an exclusive program of provocative presentations, technology showcases, workshops and the infamous ‘CEO Couch’ session where C-level cloud experts will join Rafael Laguna on stage to delve into strategic customer engagement approaches and business models as well as offering exclusive insights into the future of the cloud.

Trust in the cloud forms the cornerstone of the Summit agenda with topics covered including the surveillance state, the encryption economy, honest business models and keeping trust amongst customers. The past year has seen concerns over privacy and security grow exponentially. Open-Xchange believes that a secure open source offering teamed with easy-to-use encryption will strengthen customer engagement by building trust in key services.

"There is a very real demand for secure cloud services and service providers are moving to cloud packages that offer their customers that extra peace of mind,” said Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange. “Open source protocols and tools can ensure transparency as well as offering end users choice and full flexibility. At OX Summit we aim to support those providers as well as spur on the debate around the future of a free and open internet”.

Kicking-off on the 17th September with an invitation-only dinner, the OX Summit is a four day premier event for professionals and businesses committed to developing open standards for the formation and continuation of a trusted Cloud ecosystem. 400 delegates from SaaS and infrastructure service providers from around the world travel to the Summit in Germany for discussions, best practice and knowledge exchange around the topic of open cloud services.

Partners at the event include ‘Diamond Sponsors’, Scality and Voiceworks. Additional sponsors include Digitec, Dovecot, Dropmyemail, ePages, Fortnox, Hostway, Openwave Messaging, Parallels, ProfitBricks, RankingCoach, RPost and Univention to name a few.

For more information, an agenda and free registration, please visit http://summit.open-xchange.com

About Open-Xchange

Open-Xchange develops, markets and sells web-based communication, collaboration and office productivity software, which enables full integration of email, documents, scheduling and social media. Built for the cloud, OX App Suite connects business and personal worlds, across devices and legacy systems. Sold and delivered through cloud and hosting providers, telco’s and local Internet services companies, OX App Suite gives individuals the freedom to collaborate, work and communicate in the way they want to. Founded in 2005, the company is privately owned and headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany, with offices in San Jose, CA, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For further information, please visit: http://www.open-xchange.com.