C-DAC BOSS Linux To Aid NIC e-Governance Projects

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with National Informatics Centre (NIC), to implement BOSS Linux for select e-governance projects developed and maintained by NIC. The MoU was signed by M R Rajagopalan, director, C-DAC, Chennai and T A Khan, DDG, NIC.

The scope of this strategic alliance between C-DAC and NIC is to implement the latest 3.0 version of BOSS Linux, developed by NRCFOSS, in selected e-governance projects maintained by NIC. BOSS (Bharat Operating System Solutions) is a GNU/Linux distribution developed by NRCFOSS for enhancing the use of Free and Open Source Software in the country. The latest 3.0 version of BOSS has a series of additional features such as GNOME, KDE desktop environment, Bulk Document Converter and supports 18 desktop Indian languages. The software is also endowed with Bluetooth for short range of communications along with features like RSS Feed Reader and PDF Viewer to edit documents.

"We have a long-term commitment to develop software solutions, which would aid e-governance and bridge the digital divide in India. BOSS has received a good response in the market over the years. We look forward to sharing our expertise to build advanced solutions for various sectors of the economy. This MoU is a significant step in our e-governance initiatives in India and a ratification of our continued commitment to develop open source with Linux," said Rajagopalan.

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Khan said, "We are happy to be associated with a prestigious organisation like C-DAC. We are confident that their expertise will add great value to the e-governance projects developed by us. This association is in line with our strategic vision to expand our capabilities in e-governance. The MoU marks a step forward in further establishing our commitment to India."

The MoU would encourage the procurement of Linux compatible devices for the use of e-governance applications. NIC will identify suitable e-governance applications for deployment of BOSS and utilise C-DAC's expertise in Linux software. C-DAC in turn would support telephonic, e-mail and portal delivery mechanism for the e-governance programme of NIC.