Research Work for “Open Source Infrastructure”
Our company addressed the research role of the Open Source Infrastructure (OSIN Project).
- Our company addressed the research role of the Open Source Infrastructure (OSIN Project) under the State Program of Research and Development “Building an Information Society”. We worked closely with Gordias and FMFI UK (Faculty of Math, Physics & Informatics Commenius Univ.) to implement the project.The Final Proposal of the project was successfully bid 18.11.2004
By the end of the year a comprehensive report on interesting project results was prepared and made available. The project has shown that the use of Open Source in public administration, education and SMEs can be very effective.The report notes practical uses of these results in public administration, education and SMEs.The aim of the OSIN project was to specify optimal variants of open source use in government, education and SMEs::- State administration and local government – the financial impact of savings can be very pronounced in the current situation
- SME – in advanced economies, this sector is the main engine of growth and therefore its stimulation is a strategic interest of the state
- Education – faced with a financial crisis, we see the use of OSS as very appropriate and cost effective
Support for OSS deployment should be taken by the state, as in other countries. Such support can be divided into three parts:
- Research: Problem analysis, identification and proposal of suitable solutions (from a vast amount) and procedures, basic methodology allowing systematic procedures and minimizing risks
- Development: Creating templates of solutions, opening specific OSS projects
- Deployment: Support OSS deployments, consultancies, information services
Project Results and Outputs
The task was to assess the possibility of deploying Open Source software (very low-cost software) in state administration and local government, education, and small and medium-sized business in Slovakia. Possible savings were to be further quantified based on design concept of deployment and support. More information about the task and how we proceeded, are in the public PDF files below (in Slovak).
After more than a year of analysis of the IT situation in the target areas, the task was completed by our final expert response with the following conclusions:
Open Source software can be deployed in the IT infrastructure of public administration, education and the SME sector in Slovakia as a full-fledged alternative to traditional proprietary (commercial) software, and it should be necessary to consider it in public IT procurement.
If society’s computerization is fully exploited with the deployment and use of information technologies in public administration, and especially in education and the SME sector, Slovakia would progressively approach the level of the advanced economies. Savings in the 6-8 year horizon could grow, by conservative estimates, up to nearly 600 million EUR (18 billion SKK).
Implementation can be done by transferring SW cost-free, without serious risks, at different levels as needed. Another one of the outputs of the R & D task was a realistic concept of deploying and supporting Open Source software.
Under these circumstances, it should be noted that massive deployment of Open Source software would not only create remarkable savings, it would have such important positive secondary consequences for the whole society that its use would significantly accelerate the overall process of computerization on a massive scale.
As we move towards a knowledge-based economy, deploying open source software in the public sector becomes a matter of strategic importance for the whole of society.
Complete OS project outputs in PDF (Slovak documents):
- Iniciatíva Open Source, jej história a protagonisti (Open Source Initiative, its history and key people)
- Analýza prístupu k nasadzovaniu OS softvéru v EU (Analysis of access to OS software deployment in the EU)
- Východiská nasadzovania IT v školstve (Starting points for IT deployment in education)
- Východiská nasadzovania IT v sektore štátnej správy a samosprávy (The foundations of IT deployment in the state administration and local government sectors)
- Východiská nasadzovania IT v sektore SME (The starting point for IT deployment in the SME sector)
- Formulár dotazníka – školstvo (Questionnaire form – education)
- Formulár dotazníka – štátna správa (Questionnaire form – state administration)
- Formulár dotazníka – SME (Questionnaire form – SME)
- Typické prípadové štúdie nasadenia Open Source (Typical case studies of Open Source deployment)
- Bezpečnostné aspekty systémov postavených na Open Source (Security aspects of Open Source systems)
- Návrh koncepcie nasadenia a podpory OS softvéru (2 MB) (OS Design Deployment and Support Concept Design)
- Nasadenie OS softvéru v kontexte informatizácie spoločnosti (Deploying OS software as part of a company’s computerization)
- Záverečná správa z riešenia úlohy VaV (Final report resolving the R & D tasks)