Red Hat announced a collaboration with Intel and the City University of New York to form the New York City Open Source Solutions Lab at the CUNY Institute for Software Design and Development. The facility will be a state-of-the-art center in which New York-based government IT professionals can test open source software solutions based on Intel architecture.

The Open Source Solutions Lab, based at the CUNY Graduate Center, houses hardware provided by Intel Corporation and Red Hat Enterprise Linux software donated by Red Hat. In addition to hardware and software, the companies are also supplying support services. CUNY's Institute for Software Design and Development, which serves as a research partner for New York City government agencies, is providing its extensive industry expertise to the project.

Commenting on this update, Ram Peddibhotla, Director of Intel Open Source Technology Center said "Open source applications offer great promise, especially in cost of ownership. Intel and Red Hat support this Open Source Solutions Lab so that New York government IT professionals have an ideal environment to test these applications on our next-generation Intel multi-core technology and prepare for successful deployments."

The Open Source Solutions Lab is designed to help New York City area public sector government IT professionals consider more cost-effective and flexible technology options prior to deployment. The establishment of a stable and defined IT environment, combined with the availability of extensive support services, makes the OSSL an ideal place for examining and testing Open Source solutions.

An Advisory Board will oversee the Solutions Lab. City and State IT professionals will be able to make an appointment to use the Lab for testing activities and support services.

Shalini Ale/ITvoir network