6 December 2007
Media Release
MyGOSSCON Pushes for Improved Service Delivery at Lower Cost
- Tripartite strategic alliance to boost OSS adoption
http://mygosscon.oscc.org.my/
PUTRAJAYA - Strategic alliance among the public sector, private sector
and the research and development (R&D) community to push the utilisation
of open source software in improving public service delivery took
centrestage at the Malaysian Government Open Source Software Conference
(MyGOSSCON) 2007, which began at the Putrajaya International Convention
Centre (PICC) today.
With the theme "Accelerate OSS Adoption Through Strategic Alliance", the
two-day event focuses on Open Source Software (OSS) as an enabler
leveraging on the Smart Partnership model to enhance the efficiency of
public service delivery, achieve transparency, reduce total cost of
ownership whilst nurturing a knowledge-based society.
Y.Bhg Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, the Chief Secretary to the Government,
officially opened the two-day conference which was organised by the Open
Source Competency Centre (OSCC), Malaysian Administration Modernisation
and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) with support and cooperation from
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).
Other organisations that
participated in the conference include Public Institutes of Higher
Learning, Malaysian Open Source Software Alliance (MOSSA), Malaysian
National Computer Confederation (MNCC), Open Source Health Care
Association (OSHCA) and the information and communications technology
(ICT) industry.
The conference aimed to achieve several objectives - to proliferate OSS
development and implementation in public sector, to enhance synergies
among public sector, R&D and business communities, to stimulate and
increase growth of local ICT industry and to provide a platform for
sharing of knowledge and experience among participants.
In his officiating address, Mohd Sidek commented that the cost of service
delivery, of which ICT is a significant part, is huge and OSS need to be
implemented expeditiously to help lower this cost. By being able to
access software source codes, OSS users will have the opportunity to
enhance their technical know-how, be more innovative and creative,
especially in the area of application development.
Mohd Sidek said this development will not only encourage innovation and
accelerate human capital development to support the Government's
aspiration to establish a knowledge-based society in line with Vision
2020, but will also contribute to the creation of new job opportunities
in the future.
Today, he added, there are local companies that have developed various
OSS-based systems that can be deployed in the public sector. Likewise
there are local OSS communities that are involved in global OSS projects
and various OSS products being developed by OSCC and this was achieved
through continuous research and development (R&D) efforts. On-going R&D
activities will create a bigger pool of expertise that would contribute
towards development of the indigenous ICT industry.
"In Government agencies, the transparency of work processes will be
further enhanced through utilisation of OSS. Access to source codes will
enable an application to be verified and analysed to ensure it is
executed correctly," Mohd Sidek pointed out.
The Phase II of the OSS Master Plan, which started in February this year,
is aimed to accelerate the adoption of OSS in the public sector within
the next three years. This follows the successful implementation of Phase
I which comprised Laying The Foundation and Early Adoption.
The conference was divided into five sessions based on the following
themes:
* Open Technologies - Key to Unlock IT Investments
* Forum :Bridging OSS Communities Towards a Holistic and Self Sustaining
Ecosystem
* OSS Global Trends
* The OSS Revolution - Driving Business Applications
* Three Concurrent Tracks- Business, Technology, Education
MyGOSSCON 2007 saw some 40 working papers being presented and attendance
of some 850 participants from public sector, private sector and non-
government organisations (NGO). Among the government officials who
attended the conference were secretary generals from various ministries,
heads of departments, chief information officers, information technology
managers, IT executives and MAMPU officers.
The private sector and NGO
participants included chief executive officers of local ICT companies,
FMM members, representatives from leading local OSS industry players who
are in partnership with OSCC and also from the OSS developer communities.
The conference participants also witnessed the launching of two new
products from OSCC:
* MyMeeting, which is an online paperless meeting management application
* MyWorkSpace, which is an email collaboration suite
http://myworkspace.oscc.org.my/
http://myspamguard.oscc.org.my/
An OSS Showcase Exhibition consisting of 45 exhibition booths was also
held in conjunction with the conference. The aim of the exhibition was to
display various OSS solutions that have been successfully deployed within
the public sector and also solutions with a strong potential to be used
in the public sector.
It also clearly demonstrates the readiness of the
local ICT industry to implement and support OSS solutions especially for
the government agencies. A Meet-the-Experts session comprising of OSS
solution presentations from several vendors participating in the OSS
Showcase exhibition was also held over the 2-day event.
For further information, please contact:
http://opensource.mampu.gov.my/
Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Competency Centre (OSCC), MAMPU,
Lot E302-E304, Enterprise Building 3,
63000 Cyberjaya, Malaysia.
Tel. 603 83191200, Fax: 603 83193206
contact @ oscc.org.my
Joint OSCC Discussion Group
http://lists.oscc.org.my/mailman/listinfo/oscc-discuss
