Menu
CIO's FOSS Imperative

CIO's FOSS Imperative

The FOSS imperative is there and it is evident that the CIOs who have their IT infrastructure aligned with their organization's business goals, will first look towards FOSS as their choice to implement their Enterprise infrastructure.

Founding of the LUG and other groups

The Linux User Group (LUG) was formed in December 1999 and now has more than 3,500 members. Meanwhile, the FOSSFP and Ubuntu LUC launched the National FOSS Mass Awareness Campaign (FOSSAC). The campaign aimed to educate 7,000 people, notably women, across 506 organizations nationwide. It provided free training, certifying in excess of 4,800 Ubuntu-Linux users and distributing 10,000 FOSS CDs. This initiative involved a public sector university partner that donated 700 computers, 22 trainers and 600 volunteers to manage the campaign across four days (ie: 16 to 19 August 2005). To-date, more than 350,000 Ubuntu-Linux Desktop Software CDs have been freely distributed through http://shipit.ubuntu.com and CDs are now widely available for sale through out CD sale spots around the country.

Questions you ought to be asking

A good question you may want to ask is 'why is FOSS being used in the first place?' A good answer is that FOSS carries low-cost of deployment, relatively lower cost of maintenance, widely available self-help resources, no competition or threats from software pirates and it has the ability to test virtually anything in any given circumstance. The costs in terms of consulting, hardware acquisition and training tend to remain comparable with costs of licensed proprietary software but the benefits stand out.

Does off-the-shelf Proprietary software seem to be the only choice for ready deployment into you infrastructure? Well, not really. For the smart CIO, his team needs to be able to design and develop infrastructure whose components are highly availability, scalable and secure. All this in addition to providing the best value for money, and realistically speaking, this cannot be achieved with solutions from one vendor. A CIO needs to be able to create a mix of solutions and implement them to fit into a usable architecture within his company or enterprise. That's why you'll find a combination of both FOSS as well as licensed propriety software in every enterprise infrastructure.

What about freedom to access and modify the software code? Well that's there too, but there is more to it. The Pakistani IT industry evidently needs to build software solution-oriented innovation on top of technologies that have lower cost and licensing barriers. This also opens up doors to opportunities for research and product innovation allowing increased spending on Sales and Marketing.

Is anyone seriously using FOSS in Pakistan? Just to mention a few, large conglomerates from the banking sector institutions and general business commerce and industry are using FOSS. Most notable deployments have been Tameer Micro Finance Bank Ltd. that runs a 100% Ubuntu-Linux-based Client and Server Architecture from its head office all the way across its 22-branch nationwide banking network.

The financial and securities clearing backbone, National Clearing Corporation Limited of Pakistan (NCCLP) also runs on a highly available, secure and scalable FOSS Architecture. Within the Islamic banking network, Bank Islami runs both its Headquarters as well as its branch network on an FOSS-based Enterprise infrastructure.

Today's CIO has a lot of choices. Whether or not to use FOSS is not based on which vendor is the market leader in software. The answer is actually based upon how their organization can build, maintain and sustain its IT infrastructure within the ever growing business economic environment. The FOSS imperative is there and it is evident that the CIOs who have their IT infrastructure aligned with their organization's business goals, will first look towards FOSS as their choice to implement their Enterprise infrastructure.

The author is a FOSS Advisor and Advocate. He leads Ubuntu Linux Pakistan as well as ventures for the promotion of emerging technology for local skills development, people empowerment and strategic technology management in the Pakistani IT industry. He can be contacted at: fouad.bajwa@ciopakistan.com

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.

More about ApacheAsteriskEvolveLeaderLeaderLinuxLinux Professional InstituteUbuntu

Show Comments
[]