IBM promotes open-source in India

IDG News Service - IBM has partnered with a computing organization and an educational institution in India to promote the development of open-source software in the region, the company said Thursday.

IBM has partnered with India's Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Pune and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), in Mumbai to set up the Open Source Software Resource Center (OSSRC).

The center will be funded with $1.2 million over three years and will try to promote open-source software by establishing a portal for exchanging information on the subject and initiating proof-of-concept projects. It will also develop training programs for open-source and related certifications.

Several educational and government research organizations in India are working on open-source projects. But the Indian government has so far remained neutral, with some government agencies working with Microsoft Corp. and other proprietary vendors on e-government initiatives and on projects to bring PCs to poorer users.

The OSSRC will help to expand the open-source segment of the Indian software industry, according to Shanker Annaswamy, managing director of IBM India.

IBM will provide hardware, software and project management resources for the OSSRC, while C-DAC, a research and development organization of the Indian government, will provide the physical infrastructure, Indian-language technologies and open-source application frameworks to help kick-start open-source projects. IIT, one of India's leading educational institutions, will focus on teacher training and educational content.

IBM, C-DAC and IIT will jointly manage the center, which will be located at the C-DAC facility in Pune, near Mumbai, according to a spokeswoman at IBM India. IBM expects other education institutions and research organizations to join the initiative, she said.

Earlier this year, IBM signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chandigarh Union Territory to set up the IBM eGovernance Solutions Center for Linux for the Chandigarh local government. The center will help Chandigarh develop various e-government applications using open standards and IBM's development frameworks for e-governance applications.

IBM has also set up a Linux Center of Competency in Bangalore, which provides facilities and consulting services to its clients to develop, test and certify their Linux applications.