Free Software in the Catalonia Telecentre Network

Secretaria de Telecomunicacions i Societat de la Informació

Direcció general de la Societat de la Informació

revision 1 - september 2007

Facts & Figures about Catalonia Catalonia forms an autonomous community in the Spanish State, with an own institution of government: Generalitat de Catalunya

CATALONIA. Technical card

Location: northeast of the Iberian peninsula, in the Mediterranean coast

Population: 7.134.697 inhabitants

Extension: 32.106 km2

GDP: 170. 450 Million euros

Languages: Catalan and Spanish

Capital: Barcelona

Europe: European Union member since 1986 and member of the Economic and Monetary Union

Facts & figures about Catalonia Catalonia as percentage of Spanish figures Source: CIDEM

A brief review of FOSS facts in Catalonia 2003 – Government leadership changed. New government plans ( el Pacte del Tinell ) included references to FOSS and open standards usage promotion 2002 – Free Software Law proposal presented at the Parliament. It was refused. 2004 – Responsibility for free software promotion was given to STSI in the Universities and Information Society department leaded by ERC CatPL: a “lobby” to promote the growth of FOSS catalan SMEs Free Software Law proposal presented at the spanish Parliament 2005 – Creation of the FOSS International Network of Public Administrations to share projects and experiences Creation of the Free Software Office 2006 – Free Software Telecentre Network was created 30 schools started using Linkat 1.0 Consulting work to develop the Government Free Software roadmap

actions during 2004-2007 period 2004 – 2007 FOSS actions in Catalonia public administration business world citizens university Linkat, STSI, CTTI, e-Catalunya, Free Software Office, International Network of PA for FOSS, Roadmap Meetings, speech and conferences CatPL CEOS Promotion and studies on FOSS models Subsidy of FOSS studies The CAMPUS project Subsidy to migrations CLAM framework LaFarga Telecentres FOSS CD-ROMs Promotion activities

OpenOffice.org usage in the Government

Education Department

Installed on every computer of the department

Installed on every computer deployed to docent activities in schools

Linkat, GNU/Linux based educational distro, includes OOo

Most teacher training activities are based in free software solutions

Government and Public Administrations Department

STSI (co-existence of OpenOffice.org and MS Office)

Telecentre Network

Justice Department

Digitalization of peace courts is based on OOo

What is currently going on? Strategic working lines Free Software and catalan language are both transversal goals on our ICT policies Free Software is a good chance to drive growth of local ICT sector. It could also become a key piece in digitalization of SMEs. Public administration should be ready to offer its e-government services based on open standards. Digital training plans should be based on technological independence to ensure citizens capability of using different digital platforms. Free Software implantation plans in the Government should be defined by the results of the roadmap consulting work currently being developed.

What is the Catalonia Telecentre Network? A way to promote ICT usage Digital alphabetization and training plans Content creation Catalan culture and language development in Knowledge Society Free Software A way to identify Information Society requirements and skills of the Catalan society The Catalonia Telecentre Network (XTC) is the instrument to trasmit and foster Knowledge Society.

One network, four communities Catalonia Telecentre Network Omnia 111 telecentres, 10 of which located in penitentiaries. The goal is to prevent digital divide through educational, social and professional insertion actions. Telecentre offers access to ICTs for free. Telecentres in libraries, Youth Information Centers, Community Centers, etc 350 telecentres Telework centres 30 telecentres , located in rural or economically depressed areas where telework possibilities help to prevent depopulation and contribute to a more diversified and modern productive structure.

Free software centres

29 telecentres

Exclusively based on free software to test framework computer appliances’ effectiveness and evaluate general migrations of the network

Government role in the Network: from the hardware supplier to the services provider

www.xarxa365.cat

Drupal based website

Moodle e-learning platform

ICT contents and resources available with a cc license

Motivator training

Technical services (help-desk)

Coordination offices

Computers

A management model based on sustainability

Government provides:

hardware and software

help desk

technical offices

subsidy calls

training services

Local administrations provide:

site and facilities

internet connection

motivator hiring

Government and local administration both provide telecentre funds in a co-responsibility based model Telecentres are NOT owned by the Government or local administration but both are co-responsible for them

Telecentre Network on the territory More than 500 telecentres widely distributed on the territory TERRITORY: a transversal element

Territorial Test Pilot 2007

decentralized model, which must allow:

More rational, efficient and more suitable management of public resources

Building of a network of complicity and co-responsibility with the local world

Creation of new ICT services, provided in and from the territory

Redefinition of telecentres as elements of reference and ICT prescription in the territory, both for the public and private sector.

Modernization and diversification of the economic structure, thanks to the prescription, diffusion and support work of the telecentre

Free Software in the Telecentre Network

Since 2004, every computer delivered to a telecentre is dual-boot (Windows+GNU/Linux). OpenOffice is also included in the Windows partition

Free software is always considered in training plans

The Telecentre Network website (xarxa365) is based on Drupal CMS

The e-learning platform is based on Moodle

Testing a new telecentre model free software and low cost networks

Telecentre network growth requires a new model to assure midterm sustainability

Free software usage in the telecentres reduces software expense. These funds can be used to offer better services

Thinclient and recycled computers:

easy network management

reduction of hardware and software TCO

re-usage contributes to extend hardware time life

Previous experiences showed LTSP as a good option in the telecentre environment

Free Software Telecentre Network model Technical Office (Fundació Catala d'Esplai) motivator training motivation activities model evaluation hardware and software deployment help-desk remote management Technical services (ID Grup) 30 new telecentres + 10 existing telecentres GNU/Linux based distribution in Catalan, FC6 + LTSP 4.2 server + thinclients + printer + networking hardware Internet connectivity MOTIVATOR: a key figure

The telecentre LTSP. Linux Terminal Server Project LTSP provides a lightweight GNU/Linux based distro suitable to provide Linux based terminal services. Everything runs on the server so no installation is required in clients GNU/Linux server offers Terminal services Thinclients or Recycled computers LAN DHCP, TFTP, X, NFS PXE boot no installation required network & desktop services

Test Evaluation Preliminary results

Telecentre activity is not affected by free software migration. Telecentre public gets used to FOSS very fast

Terminal based telecentres reduce maintenance expense

Current Internet usage requires:

Internet higher connection speeds

better LAN configurations (server gigabit link)

more server computational power (flash multimedia content)

Work is still required to improve performance in some fields like VoIP, accessibility or video

Resources More information could be found at: http://www.gencat.cat Generalitat de Catalunya website http://www.lafarga.cat LaFarga http://www.xarxa365.cat Catalonia Telecentre Network http://www.lin.cat Linkat website http://www.ltsp.org LTSP official website

Thank you! Francesc Rambla i Marigot ( [email_address] ) Secretaria de Telecomunicacions i Societat de la Informació Direcció General de la Societat de la Informació revisió 1 - setembre de 2007