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Welcome to the italian Competence Center web site,
parts of the international network of the QualiPSo Competence Centers
located in Brazil, Europe, China and Japan (read more)

Training and Education, Consultancy, Quality and Labeling services are offered.

Until January 2011 our services will be free of charge for you * !!!

New service: the comparative analysis on open source forges is available here.

What Is It ?

The Italian Open Source Competence Center is a consortium presented by Engineering Ingegneria Informatica (Engineering), the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano, the University of Insubira, and the University of Sannio for the achievement of services meant to facilitate the application of Open Source Software.

The Competence Center has been created under the aegis of the italian Ministry for Public Administration and innovation, which subscribed an agreement protocol with Engineering on 30th March.

Founded on the technical and scientific results produced by the QualiPSo project, the Italian Competence Center is a no-profit no-loss consortium, whose purpose is to support schools, universities, the local public administration, hospitals, small and medium enterprises, so as to meet their need for Open Source.

The Aim

The Competence Center aims to foster the development and adoption of the open source software, providing users with specific support through software solutions and high-quality services that help manage one’s own daily activities at dramatically reduced costs. Anyone can take advantage of the knowledge, support and training services provided by the Competence Center, in order to understand, customize and adapt the Open Source.

Why is Open Source to be Encouraged ?

To have an answer, take a look to this video (in italian) created by Christian Biasco (Biasco.ch) ... (link)

According to a report issued by Minister Brunetta on 7th October 2009 regarding a survey on computerization of Public Administration, in Italy there is a very poor adoption of Open Source solutions: only 35% of local Administrations declares of making a limited use of Open Source software. Even if ISTAT data give estimates superior to the ones supplied by the Minister, we have to affirm that the percentage is to be applied to the Public Administrations, which turn to Open Source only for some applications but they do not go beyond defining the number of relevant applications out of the total applications used by the Administrations. Clear norms have been issued on the purchase of software into the Code of Public Contracts for Work, Services and Equipments (D. Lgs. n. 163/2006) and also into the Code of Digital Administration (D. Lgs. n. 82/2005). In particular, Article 68 of the CDA states that Public Administrations "purchase, according to fixed procedures,software products after examining and comparing costs and technical qualities of all the potential software candidates."

This scenario challenges the Italian Open Source Competence Center to contribute, also collaborating with already existing central and local initiatives, to change the trend by making every effort for Open Source to become the real alternative to the current scenario. 

This means that the aim of the Competence Center is not only to focus the attention on the problems of the Public Administration, but also to involve all the Public Administration's suppliers and/or partners, big companies and small/medium concerns.

Open Source can propose its model of business in particular to small/medium companies, which are more susceptible to the present critical economic situation. This enables companies to concentrate their investments rather than on costs related to licences (and binding conditions imposed by software vendors that limit users' freedom of action), on the quality of services being offered, on available expertise, on the flexibility, and on the ability of quickly answer users' requirements.

Several Market Analysts confirm that the critical economic situation helps to stimulate the small, medium and large companies to adopt Open Source as a solution to cut down on prices. 

The Competence Center initiative proposes to be of comfort and help for these who want to transform the negative trend of economy into positive by introducing new development strategies and by making the best use of one's resources. It is confirmed therefore, that cutting down on costs is the main reason for turning to Open Source solutions. The other reason is related to the flexibility that the Open Source model can provide. 

 It is therefore evident that in spite of much is said about Open Source's aim and advantages, it is important to adopt it. The mission of the QualiPSo project declares: 

"…trustworthiness in adopting Open Source software on a large scale is not a quality
that can be claimed without being proved..."

In order to favour effectively and widely the adoption of Open Source software, the Competence Center offers the following services:

1. Consultancy and technical support as well as assistance on Open Source solutions, with particular stress on governance processes and on management of measurement processes for quality
2. Services for Quality Measurement of an Open Source products and of its development process
3. Training on the most significant topics related to Open Source, with particular stress on governance processes and on management of measurement processes for quality
4. Create awareness and encourage the use of Open Source solutions through dissemination in schools and universities, advertising, and informing potential future users about the importance of adopting Open Source

Moreover, the Competence Center provides the possibility of tuning the offer according to personal needs of users who will turn to the Center so as to establish a useful collaboration and an improvement of the provided services through incoming suggestions.

www.flossitaly.it is still evolving. Come back soon to discover new services and new opportunities.  

 * excluding eventual travelling expenses of our consultants 

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