Open Source Software a Key Enabler for Viable E-governance
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is one of the most important ingredients for the spread of e-governance in the India, said Satish Babu, National Secretary of the Computer Society of India (CSI). He was inaugurating the JBoss Application Server Seminar in Technopark, Trivandrum on Feb 8, 2008.

/Linux - GNU - Open Source News Articles/ - TRIVANDRUM, KERALA, INDIA, February 13, 2008 - Mr. Babu said that the early initiatives in e-governance in India was characterized by a multiplicity of technology platforms, leading to high costs of development, difficulty in maintenance, lack of interoperability and a tendency to let the initiative weaken after the original innovator moved out from the project.

However, there is a new trend now, endorsed by both government and private service providers, to use FOSS platforms to base e-governance offerings. This shift was clearly articulated in this year's CSI National E-governance awards ceremony in Hyderabad in December, where there was a firm preference for FOSS platforms and Open interoperability standards. While the low cost of FOSS products is definitely a factor in this choice, other important factors included are the robustness of FOSS products, the lack of legal restrictions, and increasingly, the availability of trained human resources.

He said that it was important to consider the long-term effects of technology choice for public computing while deciding on technology platforms. He said that Kerala was a trailblazer in the choice of FOSS as the platform of choice for e-governance, and congratulated Kerala's IT administration for obtaining three awards in the CSI-Nihilent e-governance awards, including that of the second-best state for IT implementation. The CSI-Nihilent National Awards have been instituted by CSI with the collaboration of the National Institute of Smart Government, Hyderabad.

He said the JBoss Application Server suite was eminently suited for developing local e-governance applications, and that the establishment of a JBoss Centre of Excellence (JBoCE) in Trivandrum would help promoting this Open Source platform in India and the Asia-Pacific markets.

The seminar was then addressed by Mr. S. Satyamoorthy, Head, JBoss (Asia-Pacific) who spoke on JBoss technologies, their features and their use. Mr. Amarnath Raja, CEO InApp, addressed the participants on the JBoss Seam technology.

The event was organized by Computer Society of India, Trivandrum Chapter, in association with IEEE Kerala Section. The event was sponsored by Technopark, Red Hat India, and InApp Information Technologies, Technopark.

Press Release Contact Information:

Satish Babu
Computer Society of India (CSI)
Hon. Secretary
122, T.V. Industrial Estate, S.K. Ahire Marg, Worli
Mumbai, Maharashtra
India 400030
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