Govt body to promote open-source software

Chennai-based National Resource Centre for Free/Open Source Software (NRCFOSS) is planning to bring its programme on free/open source software to Gujarat though a possible collaboration with engineering colleges in the state.

The centre has already begun a dialogue with engineering colleges in Gandhinagar and Nadiad. NRCFOSS initiates programmes and promotes development and deployment of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) tools, technologies, products, architectures and solutions in various relevant application domains.

This is done under the SOA framework where e-governance, technical, SMEs and school education are some of the domains being explored.

NRCFOSS is promoted by the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and implemented jointly by the AU-KBC Research Centre, Anna University, Chennai and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Chennai.

"Having conducted a pilot study in Chennai with 50 colleges, NRCFOSS saw close to 1,000 students taking up as electives. The centre has trained 100 teachers for 200 hours for the modules. In phase two, the centre plans to extend its presence to Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala apart from Gujarat. It will also be extending its nodes to other places from the present ones at Mumbai and Kolkata," said C N Krishnan, Director, AU-KBC Research Centre.