IBM takes open source to Hubli

IBM takes open source to Hubli
The Times of India,Bangalore

By R Raghavendra/TNN

Bangalore: IBM CEO Sam Palmisano’s first visit to Bangalore and India in 2003, which included the signing of an MoU with the then S M Krishna government, is finally bearing fruit. Very soon, you will see students and faculty of engineering colleges in North Karnataka develop and test software for various government departments. They may also be involved in building products, which could later evolve into new business ventures.

The Karnataka government is set to replicate the success of world-renowned institutes like MIT, Harvard and Oxford with the unveiling of IBM’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) at the B V B College in Hubli. To be inaugurated by the chief minister, this centre is coming up along with the co-operation of the Board for IT Education Standards (Bites) and the Department of IT and BT, government of Karnataka.

“The focus would be to develop a Knowledge Management Initiative for higher technical institutions in Karnataka under the aegis of Bites. As part of this MoU, a centre of excellence in Linux and open source technologies is being set up at the B V B College,’’ Prahalad Rao, director of Bites told The Times of India.

Rao added that the CoE would also facilitate students and faculty in taking up e-Governance projects and develop low cost applications based on Open Standards for government departments in North Karnataka.