The Linux Foundation announced its 2016 event calendar, and issued a CFP for the Apr. 4-6 Embedded Linux Conference, which features an OpenIoT Summit.

It’s once again time to check your calendar to see if you can carve out a few days to network with your geeky peers — the Linux Foundation has revealed its extensive lineup of 2016 events. In 2015, LF events attracted “nearly 15,000 developers, maintainers, sysadmins, thought leaders, business executives and other industry professionals from more than 3,100 organizations across 85 countries,” says the nonprofit Linux advocacy organization.

The events are designed to bring together the most influential developers, maintainers, and sysadmins to examine trends in open source, including Big Data, cloud native applications, containers, IoT, Linux, networking, security, and more, says the organization. “Linux Foundation events are where the world’s best technologists meet, collaborate and advance the greatest shared technologies of our time,” stated longtime LF executive director Jim Zemlin.

Droning out at Embedded Linux Conference 2015 in San Jose
(click image to enlarge; source: Linux Foundation)

Ideally, there will also be room for discussion of some of the debates coursing through the Linux community, from open source licensing issues to corporate culture. Perhaps there will even be calls to reverse the LF’s recent, ill-advised decision to strip the voting rights from individual members. We understand that Linux wouldn’t be the success it is today without corporate contributions in money, time, and code — and tech companies deserve a major voice in the Linux roadmap. Yet, so do the individual members who contribute freely, but now have little voice in governance.

As Datamation’s Bruce Byfield writes in a critical Jan, 27 story on the controversy, despite an increasing corporate focus, the Linux Foundation does a lot of good for Linux. It also provides crucial support for open source projects that extend beyond Linux, such as Dronecode or AllSeen. Byfield also notes that the organization still puts on the best conferences surrounding Linux. If your blood runs tux, these are the places to be.

New Linux Foundation events in 2016 include the Open Networking Summit, scheduled for Mar. 14-17 in Santa Clara. There will also be an OpenIoT Summit co-located with the Embedded Linux Conference North America, held April 4-6 in San Diego.

OpenIoT will “bring together embedded and application developers with systems architects and firmware developers to advance the technical work required for the future of IoT,” says the LF. It will be interesting to see how the sessions are divvied up between ELC and OpenIoT. Depending on your definition of Internet of Things, it could be argued that most new embedded Linux projects these days merit the IoT label.

In any case, you can set the schedule yourself. The LF has issued a call for papers for ELC and OpenIoT, which has replaced the previously co-located Android Builders Summit. The deadline is Feb. 5 (see farther below for a link).

The other embedded conferences of note this year are the Embedded Linux Conference Europe, held Oct. 6-7 in Berlin, and the Automotive Linux Summit to be held July 13-14 in Tokyo, co-located with LinuxCon Japan. The LF’s biggest show of the year — LinuxCon North America — will be held Aug. 22-24 in Toronto.

LF executive director Jim Zemlin interviews Linux creator Linus Torvalds at LinuxCon North America 2015

Other major changes this year include a programming shift for the invitation only Collaboration Summit, which will be held Mar. 29-31 in Lake Tahoe, just in time for some choice spring skiing. This year the summit will feature “a renewed focus on cross-collaboration between open source projects,” says the LF.

In addition to Collaboration Summit tracks focused on specific project areas, such as open networking, IoT, Big Data, and containers, tracks will cover interdisciplinary topics. These will include security; governance, operations and ecosystem development, licensing and IPR, training and certification; and open source business program development.

The complete schedule and descriptions of all 2016 events follows, with links to conference sites:

• Open Networking Summit — Mar. 14-17, 2016, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, Calif.
• Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit — Mar. 29-31, Resort at Squaw Creek, Lake Tahoe, Calif. (invitation-only)
• Embedded Linux Conference North America — April 4-6, Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, Calif.
• OpenIoT Summit — Apr. 4-6, Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, Calif.
• Linux Storage, Filesystem and Memory Management Summit (LSF-MM) — Apr. 18-19, Marriott City Center, Raleigh, N.C. (invitation-only)
• Vault: Linux Storage and Filesystems Conference — Apr. 20-21, Marriott City Center, Raleigh, N.C.
• Apache: Big Data North America — May 9-12, Hyatt Regency, Vancouver, B.C.
• ApacheCon North America — May 11-13, Hyatt Regency, Vancouver, B.C.
• Cloud Foundry Summit North America — May 24-25, Santa Clara, Calif.
• MesosCon North America — June 1-2, Hyatt Regency Tech Center, Denver, Colo.
• OPNFV Summit — June 22-23, Berlin, Germany
• LinuxCon Japan + ContainerCon Japan — July 13-15, Chinzan-so Conference Center, Tokyo, Japan
• Automotive Linux Summit — July 13-14, 2016, Chinzan-so Conference Center, Tokyo, Japan
• LinuxCon North America + ContainerCon North America — Aug. 22-24, Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto, Ont.
• OpenDaylight Summit — Sep. 27-29, Meydenbauer Center, Seattle, Wash.
• LinuxCon Europe + ContainerCon Europe — Oct. 4-6, Intercontinental Berlin, Berlin, Germany
• Embedded Linux Conference Europe — Oct. 6-7, Intercontinental Berlin, Berlin, Germany
• Linux Kernel Summit — Oct. 31-Nov. 1, Santa Fe Convention Center, Santa Fe, N.M.
• Linux Plumbers Conference — Nov. 2-4, Santa Fe Convention Center, Santa Fe, N.M.

 
Further information, including CFP details

Speaking proposals are now being accepted for 2016 events. Upcoming Call for Papers (CFP) deadlines include Open Networking Summit (Jan. 15), Vault (Jan. 29), Collaboration Summit (Feb. 2), Embedded Linux Conference North America (Feb. 5), OpenIoT Summit (Feb. 5), ApacheCon (Feb. 12), and Apache: Big Data (Feb. 12). Submissions may be filed here. Additional events will be announced in the coming months. More information about all LF events, may be found at the Linux Foundation Events page.