The National Computing Centre (NCC) has set up an open source laboratory to test the viability of the technology for public sector organisations, it has announced.
The laboratory is part of the Open Source Academy, funded by Whitehall under its e-innovations programme. NCC is running the academy in a consortium which includes four councils and local IT management body Socitm. The aim is to help public sector bodies evaluate open source alternatives to proprietary solutions in an "independent test environment", according to an NCC statement issued on 17 June, 2005.
The laboratory's first user is to be Cheshire County Council, which is part of the consortium along with Birmingham, Bristol and Shepway.
Cheshire will test a joint proprietary and open source solution for desktop services. Access to the lab for public sector organisations is free and NCC can assist users in designing tests and reporting on the trials.
Chris Marsden, systems engineer in Cheshire County Council's research and development department, said: "Cheshire's experience of the open source labs is first rate. Lab technicians were able to analyse Cheshire's requirements and propose an innovative solution. Using the lab test environment allowed work to proceed quickly, requiring only minimal resources from Cheshire to take the project forward."
Ed Downs, project manager for the open source laboratory, said: "The facility provides a safe environment where public sector organisations can test and evaluate innovative technologies and configurations, prove concepts and get answers to specific technical queries — all without the risk of undertaking the work in their own organisations or compromising existing service delivery."
"Many organisations have heard about the benefits of open source but are wary about implementing open source solutions due to technical and compatibility considerations. The Open Source Laboratory allows potential users to test configurations, evaluate the benefits and build confidence in open source technologies without risk."
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