Tamil Nadu Closes the Window?
Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) has opted for open source and is rolling out SuSe Linux Enterprise across 30,000 desktops and 1,880 servers in the states schools. ELCOT itself migrated its entire IT infrastructure from Windows to SuSe Linux Enterprise Server and SuSe Linux Enterprise Desktop from Novell.

Tamil Nadu has already dispatched 6,100 Acer desktop systems with SuSe Linux. It is deploying 32,600 Linux desktops and training 30,000 government officials for the same, along with 43 open source-based servers supporting government applications. "Linux has become a way of life for us," says C Umashankar, MD, ELCOT.

Cost is the big question. "Undeniably, SuSe has made IT affordable for us by reducing cost. We were able to get the SuSe Linux at a cost of Rs 300 per desktop license. Training was carried out using our own resources. The cost of switching was negligible," says Umashankar. "Apart from the fact that it offers complete security, specifically for all our e-Governance initiatives, it has also given us complete freedom to choose any type of operating system," he adds.

Microsoft might be down but is not out. There are still a number of projects that are running on proprietary platform, like eKaruvoolam, an automated treasury bill passing system; Tamil Nilam, an e-Governance initiative of the revenue department to computerize the land records system; Vaahan and Sarathi applications that process all transactions related to vehicles, and for driving related activities; and Patram, a postal accounts software. "Clearly, Tamil Nadu is a place of high momentum driven by able and astute leadership. ELCOT has taken the decision to shift to open source without taking in the total cost of ownership over a period of 5-7 years, which is usually how long the application lasts. The total cost of ownership will be much expensive over this time-frame because of the support and servicing costs involved," says Kumar.

Spreading North
The Linux camp seems happy for now, so long as the government plays a neutral role and remains a facilitator of its growth. "We expect the government to be our biggest customer in the domestic market. Creating more opportunities in terms of projects, and proliferating the governance projects (like the Mission Mode projects), and increased transparency are things to watch out for," says Nandu Pradhan, MD, Red Hat.

Red Hat is at present implementing close to seventy e-Governance projects, of which eight states have treasury applications running on open source. Among some other important projects, IRCTCs mission-critical ERP application is also on Linux, and a number of Panchayati Raj applications are running on Linux. Further, the company has standardized Linux in eleven local languages. After consolidating their position in the southern states, the open source companies are looking northwards. Red Hat India is closely working with the states of Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal and Uttaranchal on various applications. "In the northern states, the pie is huge. So we are working with state governments, including Haryana and HP, where adoption is smaller in size," says Pradhan.

Its Windows for India
All said and done, India is still a country of Windows and Gates. Microsoft rules the market and even the government sector. While Linux is indeed making inroads, it will still take a big shove to budge the giant. Statistics more or less speak for themselves. The previous year saw Microsoft implementing major contracts spanning over fourteen states. Some of the major projects that they implemented include the Punjab land records project, e-DharaGujarats Online Land Administration project, instant money order digitalization project, MP online, Bihar online, eDhartiGovernment Urban Properties Management, Food Corporation Indias food grain management project.

Rohit Kumar said, "When you talk about governance in India, it is a distributed model, spread across cities, state, district, and block level. Today we are on multiple cities and at state level." Kumar points out that 11 out of 12 states land records are on Microsofts platform. Amongst these projects, Gujarat governments eDhara project was widely applauded, for the share service delivery it enabled in the rural sector. Under the eDhara project, land records acquired by the state were computerized and available online. The state government had further planned to computerized land records in 24 districts, 225 talukas and 18,526 revenue villages, using G-SWAN.

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