July 10, 2003

German government publishes open source guidelines

Public sector agencies get guidance in migrating to open source software

Federal agencies, state and local governments, and other public-sector administrations in Germany interested in migrating their computer systems to open source software, particularly the Linux operating system, can now turn to a set of guidelines for support.

"Migration guidelines for basis software components" is the name of a new reference guide that Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior presented Thursday at the LinuxTag exhibition and conference in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The ministry announced its intention to publish software deployment guidelines for the public sector in June, after signing a widely publicized deal last year with IBM to receive discounted computers running pre-installed Linux software.

The guidelines are designed to help IT managers in the public sector decide, first of all, whether to continue with their current commercial software licensing agreements, use both commercial and open source software, or whether it makes more sense, both economically and technically, to abandon their commercial licensing agreements altogether and migrate fully to open source products, according to state secretary Göttrik Wewer.

The new guidelines, based on several open-source pilot projects, present various steps and measures that ministry IT experts view as essential for open source software to be deployed successfully in the public sector.

The guidelines can be found on the Web site: www.kbst.bund.de.

Close

On Twitter now

Platforms

Powered by Twitter

On Twitter now

White Paper

D2D Virtual Tape Library Replication Primer

This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.

Download now »

White Paper

An Alternative to Virtualization for Datacenter Cost Savings

Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.

Download now »

White Paper

Why Your Firewall, VPN, and IEEE 802.11i Aren't Enough to Protect Your Network

The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.

Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation

Download now »

White Paper

Bringing the Edge to the Data Center

Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.

Download now »

Sign up to receive Platforms Resource Alerts

Subscribe to the Today's Headlines: First Look Newsletter

Find out what will be news for the day, with our first-thing-in-the-morning briefing.

©1994-2009 Infoworld, Inc.