NICTA opens door to open source software

By Peter Dinham
Wednesday, 08 July 2009 14:24

Open Source

Australia’s ICT research centre, NICTA, has thrown open the doors of a new portal where a raft of open source software, developed by its own researchers, is available for download to anyone accessing the site.

NICTA has bundled together all of its existing licensed open source releases – 11 in total – in the new portal, and says that as it licenses more software releases they will also be added.

According to NICTA, its new portal makes it easy to view and download its growing portfolio of open source licenses from a single, dynamic, publicly accessible online location.

NICTA’s chief technology officer, embedded systems, Dr Chris Nicol, says NICTA has established the new portal in recognition of the growing importance of open source technologies to business and government.

Nicol says the open source licenses available on the portal include the OKL microkernel virtualisation solution, OKL4, which he says is now embedded in over 250 million consumer handsets worldwide.

“NICTA is committed to the ongoing support of open source software, both as a business enabler and as a foundation for research and innovation.

CONTINUED page 2