The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region in September will begin a Centro Regionale per l'Open Source Software (Cross). The project, based around a website letting IT companies offer Open Source services, is meant to encourage small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to use Open Source software and interact with the public administration.
The Cross project is the most recent part of the Development Open Source program (DOS) that was started in spring of 2007 by the E-government Service of the Friuli administration.
Insiel, an IT services company based in the region's capital Trieste and involved in organising Cross, says it is ready to open the site and it services. "We have not planned the exact date yet, but in September will officially start the project", said Margherita Forcolin, Insiel's Cross project manager.
The Friuli Venezia Giulia regional administration wants to boost the local economy by encouraging SMEs to use more Open Source software. "DOS is meant to create points of contacts between local government, SMEs, Open Source experts and Open Source user groups", explains Andrea Buttol, regional administrator and responsible for DOS .
According to Forcolin, the two main services offered by the Cross website are a marketplace and a catalogue, useful for local companies looking for Open Source applications and expertise. "Businesses can post requests for applications or look for help migrating from Microsoft to GNU/Linux", she explains. "Others can use the site to showcase their expertise."
Insiel hopes to build a catalogue of Open Source applications, providing links to development websites as well as regional companies that provide knowledge and assistance on this software. "It will not be just another collection of links, it will provides references to local Open Source experts. That makes it useful for other companies."
Forcolin says the Friuli administration hopes that Cross increases the involvement of local SMEs in IT development. "Cross is to function as an incubator for start-up IT companies. It reinforces the IT infrastructure, increases cooperation between companies and simplifies communications and administration."
The company also built a service-oriented architecture (SOA) for the Friuli regional administration, Intarsio. The administration wants companies in the region to use the SOA and also develop software and applications for it. To facilitate this, Insiel earlier this year made Intarsio available using the European Public Licence (EUPL). This licence is adapted to the European legal environment, explained Forcolin. "The EUPL is also available in Italian, and we think this will help avoid misunderstandings."
Further information:
Cross website (in Italian)
Plan for a Regional Centre for Open Source Software (in Italian)