[Portugal] Canary Islands make Postgres default database

[Pedro Venâncio]

https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/canary-islands-make-postgres-default-database 



Postgresql, an open source relational database management system, is now the default RDBMS for Spain's Canary Islands, it was decided last Friday. Public administrations on the islands will also switch to OpenOffice, an open source suite of office productivity tools. Moving away from proprietary software solutions is in the public administration's interest, the Canary Islands government's High Commission for Information Technology explained in a statement. 


The RDBMS now chosen as the preferred option is "considered by many institutions and companies as a credible alternative", says Roberto Moreno, director of the archipelago's Department for Telecom and New Technologies. 


The switch to Postgresql is expected to result in a reduction in the number of proprietary RDBMS licences. The Canary Islands is using over 40 proprietary database management systems. OpenOffice will be installed on some 30,000 workstations across the islands. 



Going for Platinum 


Replacing proprietary solutions with free and open source alternatives is a commitment that pays off in the medium-term, the IT committee added. The Canary Islands' overhaul of IT systems began in 2011 and is now starting to bear fruit, financially and technologically. In February, the government announced that it had managed to cut costs for server and workstation operating systems by 25.4 per cent, by switching to free and open source alternatives. 


The Canary Islands' High Commission for Information Technology also announced a standard for web site content management systems, to be preferred by all government departments. It decided on "Portal web Tipo" a solution that is built in-house as part of the island's e-government services platform Platino. The platform and its components are made available as open source to other Spanish public administrations on the software repository of the Centre for Technology Transfer (CTT – Centro de Transferencia de Tecnología).