Open Source Featured Article

Provider of open source solutions Red Hat (News - Alert) has announced collaboration with Intel and the City University of New York (CUNY) to form the New York City Open Source Solutions Lab (OSSL) at the CUNY Institute for software design and development.

 

The facility will be a “state-of-the-art center” in which New York-based government IT professionals can test open source software solutions based on Intel (News - Alert) architecture. According to Red Hat, the OSSL is designed to help New York City area public sector government IT professionals consider flexible technology options prior to deployment.

 

Company officials said that the establishment of a defined IT environment and the availability of support services make the OSSL an “ideal place” for examining and testing open source solutions.

 

The OSSL is equipped with hardware provided by Intel and Red Hat Enterprise Linux software donated by Red Hat. Also, both the companies supply support services.

 

Ram Peddibhotla, director of open source technology Center at Intel, said that Intel and Red Hat support this Open Source Solutions Lab so that New York government IT professionals have an ideal environment to test these applications on our next-generation Intel multi-core technology and prepare for successful deployments.

 

“Government entities across the country have seen tremendous value from open source solutions like Red Hat Enterprise Linux,’ said Paul Smith, vice president of government sales operations at Red Hat.

 

He also said in a statement that the Solutions Lab provides the ideal environment for New York-based agencies and departments to see the benefits for themselves. Smith added: “Adoption of open source is growing rapidly across the public sector and with this Solutions Lab, New York has put itself in the forefront of open source innovation.”

 

CUNY's Institute for Software Design and Development serves as a research partner for New York City government agencies, and provides its extensive industry expertise to the project.

 

“Given the growth potential of the open source market, we anticipate that CUNY’ Institute for Software Design and Development will offer significant assistance to government agencies in evaluating and testing new open source technology solutions that will enable them to better serve our City's residents,” said Allan Dobrin, executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer at University.

 

“This innovative collaboration, enabling the creation of the Open Source Solutions Lab, is an idea whose time has come,” said Paul J. Cosgrave, chief information officer for the City of New York and Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

 

He expects the Lab to facilitate open source adoption throughout the City where appropriate. Cosgrave said:  “It's an ideal proving ground for testing the value proponent of open source and leveraging those cost savings for our agencies.”

 

An advisory board is expected to oversee the Solutions Lab. For testing activities and support services, City and State IT professionals will be able to make an appointment to use the Lab.