Pakistan Government's

Open Source Initiative

Open Source Resource Center of Pakistan

Nasir Khan Afridi

Pakistan Software Export Board

nafridi@pseb.org.pk

GoP's Philosophy on Open Source

Define Requirements independent of Technology

Adopt standards that allow Interoperability

Increase Opportunity for Participation

Match technology with need

Where necessary use Proprietary solutions

Where possible use Open Source solutions

Considering, Upfront cost, TCO, Support, Usability, Scalability, Robustness, Integration, etc.

Factors Driving GoP's FOSS Initiative

Affordability

Local Employment Generation

Respect for IPR

Historical Background

In 2001 M/O IT created a working group to develop proposals for FOSS adoption

Working group met a few times and identified some initiatives

Good work done by group, but there was a need for some concrete initiatives by GoP to take this further

In 2003 Minister for IT directed the Ministry to develop projects around FOSS

STRATEGY

Demand Creation

Supply

Open Source Resource Center

Industrial Automation on OSS

OSS Training

Technical Support & Confidence Building

DEMAND: Industrial Automation on Open Source Technologies

M/o IT funded a Project to Develop specialized software solutions for industrial sectors in consultation with:

Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association of Pakistan (SIMAP)

All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA)

Pakistan Hosiery Mill Association (PHMA) & Pakistan Ready-made Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA)

Pakistan Association of Auto Parts and Accessories (PAAPAM)

Demand Generation Benefits

Make the SME sector more efficient and competitive

Maturity of Software Houses

Opportunity to market low cost IT solutions to other countries

Enhance solutions and market to other companies in the sector

Provide Training and ongoing support

Employment Generation

SUPPLY: OSS Trainings

M/o IT funded a Project with the scope to Train 4,000 end-users and 200 System Administrator

Participation both from the Public and Private Sector

Free for Public Sector

90% subsidy for private sector participants

Why Open Source Resource Center

Voluntary support groups add value but have certain limitations

Hence the need to have a fully funded institutional setup

To serve as a focal point and center of excellence

The Open Source Resource Center of GOP is one of the few centers in the Region

OSRC Objectives

A centralized forte of experts in Pakistan, to shore up OS developers, administrators, faculty and students.

FOSS awareness propagation in Academia, Government and Industries.

Provide technical and strategic support to sustain and migrate to open source

Arrange trainings and seminars

Maintain forum to exchange ideas among the experts nation-wide

OSRC Achievements

2 labs in University of Arid Agriculture migrated completely to FOSS

First round of 8-day LAMP training completed in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Peshawar

Collectively 480 trainees certified on LAMP

OSRC Current Activities

Support to e-Government Directorate in setting up Linux based server farm at the Federal Government Data Centre

Action plan for migration of Labs and Development environment of UET, Taxila and Telephone Industries of Pakistan being prepared

Migration of computing Labs as well as ISP service of Mehran University, Jamshoro

Open source experts on servers, desktops, ERP web and security available for on site and remote assistance

… Activities

A web portal with all necessary information built. Discussion forums and downloads available for open source software and books.

Open source helpdesk serving the open source community. A UAN facility will be installed soon.

CDs of All open source software available on demand.

… Activities

Convinced large corporates like PSO, SNGPL, Crescent Bahuman, Masood Textiles etc. to migrate to Open Source.

All new desktops to be purchased by the Federal Government will use OpenOffice.

THANK YOU

URL: http://www.osrc.org.pk

Email: info@osrc.org.pk

Telephone : +92-51-9208074

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