Information technology and society: Russian national software platform approved

The Ministry of Economic Development has published a detailed reference on goals and objectives of the national software platform approved at the meeting of the Government Commission for high technology and innovations. The platform here means the community of Russian companies-developers of software, as well as scientific public institutions (1С, Abbyy, Alt Linux, Cripto-pro, IPU of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ISP of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, IT, Voentelecom, etc.). Among the goals of the platform are: replacement of import, national security, catching up with the level of using IT in economy and improvement of competitiveness of national developments at the world market.

One of the main results of creation of the Russian national software platform will be the technological independence of the country in the field of the information & communication technology. It is supposed that national companies in the near future will create a wide range of their own software – from operational systems to technologies of search and virtualization.

In order to achieve the goals, the national software (both free and proprietary) will be gradually developed and implemented. Technically, in the context of the national platform, will be created the infrastructure of distributed development and assemblage of products, standards for compatibility of products and a set of typical solutions.

The document, published by the Ministry of Economic Development, contains fixed terms. In 2011-2012 should be developed the infrastructure of distributed development and typical solutions for the social sector, industry and municipal administration.

Among the technologies to be developed by the actors of the software platform, the authors of the document cite the system software (virtualization, OS, etc.), means of development and testing, search systems and semantic technology, solutions for information security and texts analysis.

In two years on the basis of the software platform will be created the technology of cloud hosting and processing of large data arrays. Besides technical aspects, during these terms the subject area of the software will be included into educational programs of universities.

Then, up to 2014, it is planned to develop the infrastructure of support of the software platform in the regions: create centers of competence integrated into the world software community. The centers for data processing that will provide online-services centrally must be established.

The most long-term plans, up to 2020, stipulate the developments of OS and hardware platforms of the next generation, renovation of educational university IT programs and provision of technological independence in the area of information & communication technology so that Russia is acknowledged as one of the world leaders in this area.