As a specialist in Micro Focus Identity & Access Management products, it was of course a matter of course for our IAM consultants to attend the Open Horizons Summit 2019 in Berlin. After all, it is part of our philosophy to always stay up to date on all developments in the Micro Focus IAM products in the areas of Identity Management, Access Management, Privileged Account Management, Identity Governance, or Advanced Authentication. To anticipate the outcome: participation in the Open Horizons Summit was definitely worth it for our consultants.

The Open Horizons Summit is the annual Micro Focus Community & Channel Conference and took place for the second time in Berlin from September 16–19, 2019. This four-day technical conference is organized by the Open Horizons User Group in cooperation with Micro Focus and has been a fixed date in the calendar for many Micro Focus customers and partners for years who want to further their training and deepen their technical knowledge.

The agenda of the event was already promising: more than 70 hands-on workshops offering deep technical expertise and over 80 business-oriented presentations covering the entire Micro Focus product portfolio were available. And the Open Horizons Summit delivered on its promises. Our consultants were thrilled by the quality of the presentations and workshops. In addition, there were also many opportunities to network and exchange ideas with Micro Focus specialists and other Micro Focus and Open Horizons partners, customers, and community members.

On our consultants' personal agenda were naturally many sessions from the Identity & Access Management area, but our focus also included other topics within the Security track. In addition, it was especially important to us to get an up-to-date overview of the entire Micro Focus product portfolio.

The highlights of the Open Horizons Summit for our consultants were clearly the presentations by the two Micro Focus IAM specialists Stefan Stiehl and Andreas Blatzheim, who gave very informative and entertaining updates on the latest developments of the Micro Focus products NetIQ Identity Manager 4.7, NetIQ Identity Governance 3.5, and NetIQ Access Manager 4.5. We were also impressed by the Hotlab on the first two mentioned IAM products, which offered a hands-on deep dive into the interaction between Identity Management and Identity Governance components. Our consultants also found the Life Hacking Hotlab “Hacking: A tutorial for everyone” to be very exciting, entertaining, and educational – it was one of the most well-attended sessions.

The supporting program was once again excellently curated and offered many opportunities to continue networking in the evenings. The official opening with the Micro Focus keynote took place at the British Embassy – a truly special location, where the first day’s insights were already discussed over an English buffet. On the second evening, participants had the opportunity to take part in a 10 km “City Run” along Berlin's landmarks or to explore the history of Berlin through a light and laser show in the government district. On Wednesday evening, the Open Horizons Quiz Night offered one last chance to engage with other community members.

Conclusion: The Open Horizons Summit is an event that no Micro Focus partner, customer, or Open Horizons community member should miss. You can expand your existing knowledge, discover new Micro Focus products, network with like-minded people, meet Micro Focus experts, and benefit from the know-how and experience of others. Our consultants are already looking forward to next year and will definitely attend again.