As cities attempt to modernize the IT systems that help them manage services, they often face some of the same questions large enterprises do when they start shopping for new software, one of which is whether to explore open source options. Many large businesses and government organizations use OSS, but keep in mind that open source doesn't necessarily mean free -- or even cheap.
As city administrators grapple with the notion of tying all their apps into one overarching network, should they be looking to open source as an alternative to apps from vendors?
Enterprise-level open source apps exist, and are used both by the federal government and by large corporations.
For example, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is using a solution combining open source business intelligence software from JasperSoft and business process software from HandySoft to increase operational efficiency and organizational effectiveness. This will save it 75 people-hours a day and more than US$1.5 million a year.
The NRC isn't the only federal agency moving toward open source. The Rapid Access Computing Environment, which is part of the Defense Information System Agency (DISA), runs its network on Linux. DISA also recently launched Forge.mil, a Web site for sharing open source code within the military that's modeled after the popular SourceForge.net open source site.
DISA is part of the Department of Defense, which is throwing its weight behind open source. Defense Department deputy CIO David Wennergren advocates the use of open source technology.
In the enterprise sector, FTD, which bills itself as one of the world's largest floral companies, uses the open source Enterprise DB database to power external reporting for its ARGO shipping administration system.
Read this full article at Tech News World
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