IT: Head of IT Venice region: 'Open source wherever appropriate'
"Open source applications needs to be used wherever appropriate, according to our regional law on information technology pluralism", said Bruno Salomoni, head of the IT department at the administration of the Veneto region in Italy, at a conference last week. He called on local public bodies to investigate how much of their software development may be reusable by other public administrations.
Salomoni's was one of the speakers on a conference on open source 'Open source in Italy: an analysis of an evolving Sector'. The conference at the Venice Gateway for Science and Technologies in the city of Venice on 10 March attracted more than a hundred attendees, including representatives from businesses and local public bodies.
Aim of the conference was to present and discuss the results of a online survey with 181 Italian IT companies, conducted by two researchers of the Venice International University (VIU), Antonio Picerni and Alessandro De Rossi. "Our study shows that the entrepreneurial environment is fertile and that open source offers companies an important chance", say the two economists. "Because of their open source expertise, Italian IT services companies manage to attract larger enterprise customers."
"This research focuses on the Italian open source service providers. It helps to understand the characteristics and viability of this part of IT", said Stefano Micelli, dean of the VIU.
"Open source is teaching us to cooperate and shows how it can be profitable", commented one of the attendees, Massimo Colomban, president of Vega Park. The Venice region technology park facilitates start-up companies, forming technological clusters and helping them realise the importance of networking.
"Countries are increasingly interested in open source technologies", says Franco Roman, marketing director for Sun Microsystems in Italy, one of the organisers of the conference. "Italy should be part of this global wave towards open source and open standards".
More information:
Document Actions
