Today, German Minister of the Interior, Otto Schily, and Erwin Staudt, head of IBM Germany, signed a cooperation agreement regarding the promotion of open
computer operating systems and software in Germany's public administration.
For the first time, this agreement enables the German government, federal
states and communes to acquire software based on the Linux operating system
at reduced rates. IBM supports the usage of open systems; all of its
software and hardware products are compatible with Linux.
Berlin, Germany 06/03/2002 This cooperation agreement is based on an initiative I took following the
terrorist attacks of September 11. Back then, I endeavored to contact a
number of important industry representatives of the German IT sector. My
goal was to secure Germany's IT infrastructures with security partnerships
between public and private sectors. To that end, the use of secure systems
and software is a prerequisite. The newly signed cooperation agreement will
achieve three goals: increase the IT security by avoiding monocultures,
reduce the dependencies from individual software providers, and save money
for the software acquisition and operating expenses. Thus, we spearhead the
promotion of a greater variety in the IT landscape. The savings do not only
help the Federal Government, but also the states and communes, who can now
obtain products for Open Source environments in a rapid, easy, and
uncomplicated manner," said Interior Minister Schily.
Within the master agreement, individual contracts are made for various
fields of cooperation, such as the general conditions providing the German
federal government offices with economic solutions for the increased use of
Open Source software or other IBM products. In addition, a strategic
cooperation management will be set up, to contribute to the creation of
innovative and reusable IT solutions for the federal administration.
Erwin Staudt, chairman of management at IBM Germany, explains as follows:
"The decision to use Open Source products in the federal administration
represents a trend-setting signal for the states and communes, as well as a
commitment to Germany as an IT location. From now on, our joint task forces
will assist in defining suitable projects in the administration and will
prepare the productive usage of Open Source software."
The Linux operating system preinstalled on shipped IBM servers comes from
SUSE Linux AG, a German medium-size company. Thereby, the cooperation also
strengthens Germany as IT location.
"The master agreement with IBM offers all government offices the opportunity
to attain a higher level of software heterogeneity. The fact that Linux is
an alternative to the Windows operating system gives us [the German
government] independence and a stronger customer position, as a large
software customer. Therefore, Linux contributes considerably to the
efficiency of IT deployment in the administration," explained Schily.
About Novell
Novell, Inc. is a leading provider of information solutions that deliver secure identity management (Novell® Nsure™), Web application development (Novell exteNd™) and cross-platform networking services (Novell Nterprise™), all supported by strategic consulting and professional services (Novell NgageSM). Active in the open source community with its Ximian and SUSE Linux brands, Novell is firmly committed to open source and offers comprehensive Linux products and services for the enterprise, from the desktop to the server. Novell's vision of one Net - a world without information boundaries - helps customers realize the value of their information securely and economically. For more information, call Novell's Customer Response Center at (888) 321-4CRC (4272) or visit http://www.novell.com. Press should visit http://www.novell.com/pressroom.
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