RESTON, Va., June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Due to continued constraints on information technology (IT) budgets, unsustainable hardware and software licensing costs, and the need to manage operations more aggressively than the federal government, state and local government agencies will take the public sector market lead in adopting open source software (OSS) solutions, according to a report released today by INPUT, the quantifiable leader in government market intelligence. OSS allows users to review, modify, and freely distribute underlying programming operating system computer code, thereby giving the buyer control of the operating system logic.

The success of government open source operating systems is not likely to come from agencies banding together as collective research groups for code sharing. The quest for technically sound, open software code will most likely come from governments contracting out to software specialists to develop the applicable code. "Despite recent government initiatives to write their own software code, it is very unlikely that agencies will develop OSS solutions on their own," said James Krouse, manager, state and local market analysis at INPUT. "State agencies generally don't have the expertise and manpower to develop these solutions. Government agencies cannot currently keep up with the loss of seasoned technical personnel and will increasingly find that efforts to develop new software solutions will be extraordinarily difficult."

In addition to cost savings, the adoption of open source software is also being driven by a need for governments to comprehensively manage their own systems with permanent and seamless operations that ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and unobstructed accessibility to public information and data. Acceptance of government open source systems is also gaining momentum based on some recent industry developments. In June 2004, the "Government Open Code Collaborative" was created, making it the first cross-government jurisdictional venture, including more than ten state & local agencies and offices. In partial response, Microsoft Corporation initiated a number of programs that provided government entities with access to Microsoft Windows(R) source code where necessary.

Widespread adoption of open source software should reduce overall state and local software spending because the software is less expensive than proprietary solutions. In addition, the bulk of OSS costs are in support services which would classify the expenditures under professional services rather than software. "As OSS is embraced by governments, we should see significant opportunities for service contractors that specialize in writing this code," said Krouse. "State and local agencies will continue in an active review process for the next one to two years, but vendors should expect to see considerable bids or group bids surface in the long term."

INPUT's Open Source Solution TargetView report is available to clients of INPUT's State and Local Market Analysis subscription program. For more information on the program, visit http://slma.input.com/ or call 703-707-3500.

About INPUT

INPUT is the quantifiable leader in government market intelligence. Established in 1974 and based in Reston, Virginia, INPUT provides information services, analysis, consulting, software solutions, and events to help technology vendors win more government business, and to help government organizations further advance their IT initiatives. INPUT tracks more than a half trillion dollars in contract and grant opportunities within the US federal, state & local government markets, as well as tender opportunities throughout the European Union. INPUT has built a solid reputation for high quality and in-depth government industry insight and analysis with over 1,000 clients, including hundreds of small to medium size IT contractors and more than 100 of the top 150. Leading defense, hardware, software, telecommunications, and IT services contractors, plus 4 of the top 5 8(a)s, rely on INPUT to help them win more than $45 billion in government business each year. For more information about INPUT, visit http://www.input.com/ or call 703-707-3500.

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CONTACT: Amanda Morgan of INPUT, +1-703-707-3540, or amorgan@input.com

CONTACT: Amanda Morgan of INPUT, +1-703-707-3540, or amorgan@input.com

Web site: http://www.input.com/
http://slma.input.com/

• Government and Open Source Software