The French government is trying out various open source-based alternatives for building its own cloud computing infrastructure, writes SGMAP. “Free software enables the modernisation of IT systems, including their most important new projects”, writes the government modernisation unit.

The government is testing OpenStack, Docker and MongoDB, writes SGMAP (Secrétariat Général pour la Modernisation de l’Action Publique). The cloud computing services are intended to facilitate inter-ministerial services.

One concrete example is VITAM, an archive system being built by the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Culture, and Defence, based on open source software. When completed, the EUR 15 million solution will be made available to other ministries.

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For IT modernisation, France’s public administration relies more than ever on free software and its developer communities, writes SGMAP. Apart from promoting the use of these solutions, SGMAP will promote sharing and contribution of code, and strengthening ties with communities of software developers.

The government modernisation unit quotes Henri Verdier, the CIO of the French government, as saying that, to enhance the government’s capacity to act, it must strengthen its ties to the developer communities, enriching (the software) with contributions from thousands of public employees.

More information:

SGMAP blog post (in French)

ePractice news item

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