Public Sector’s ability to deliver inter-department and inter-government integrated services will depend on standards adoption
OASIS to host a two-day forum on the state of readiness of standards for the interoperability of services in public sector IT environments
London, 10 October 2007 — Demand from the private sector and the community for simpler access to government services is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the need for better sharing of information and services in the public sector, according to international open standards consortium, OASIS.
"Within the bounds of a single nation, the need for transformational government has never been greater, but the need for real-time sharing of information is also becoming increasingly apparent across national boundaries. Much of the technology infrastructure that is being put in place to enable this interoperability is invariably based on Web services and Service Oriented Architecture. However, to do this in a comprehensive, meaningful, and secure manner requires the adoption of relevant standards," said Patrick Gannon, President and CEO of OASIS.
"The IT standards world is already complex and will become more so as the pressure for interoperability drives the move to replace proprietary interfaces with standards," explained Rob Hailstone, Software Infrastructure Practice Director at Butler Group. "Every organisation will need to decide which standards it should deploy in different business scenarios. For public sector organisations the need to understand the issues and create a strategy for the use of standards will become increasingly high profile, as governments will be required to deliver better coordinated services both within and between national boundaries."
It is important for decision-makers in public sector IT organisations to understand the ‘big picture’ of the standards movement and to discover how standards are being adopted by different governments and different government agencies. To this end, OASIS is presenting two days of information on the diversity, readiness, and adoption of relevant standards.
The event, ‘Enabling Transformational Government through Web Services and SOA,’ will take place on 29-30 October 2007 at CA’s Ditton Manor headquarters in Datchet, near London, UK. It will be an international conference featuring speakers from Asia, Central Europe, North America, and Western Europe. Keynotes for the event will be presented by Jagdip Grewal, NHS Connecting for Health; John Wailing, UK Home Office; and David Keene, SAP UK.
The event will discuss the role of standards in four broad topic areas — business and organisational change, applications and processes, collaboration, and quality of service. Within each of these, a broad cross-section of opinions and experiences will be described. In addition to more technology-focused sessions, delegates will learn how small businesses are being encouraged to adopt Web services in Japan, how Europol and Eurojust ensure collaboration between law enforcement services within Europe, how Estonia has created a national communication infrastructure, and how the EU orchestrates domestic Web services to support cross-border eGovernment life-events.
The Forum is supported by the Butler Group and sponsored by BEA Systems, EDS, IBM, Primeton, SAP, and Sun Microsystems. Other supporters include the Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Standards Board, CEN/ISSS, and XML UK.
For more information:
http://events.oasis-open.org/home/forum/2007
Note to Editors:
Attendance at this event is complimentary to members of the press.
To register, or to arrange for interviews with OASIS executives and speakers prior to, during or after the event, contact:
Carol Geyer Tel: +1 978 667 5115 x209 E: carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) drives the development, convergence, and adoption of open standards for the global information society. A not-for-profit consortium, OASIS advances standards for SOA, security, Web services, documents, e-commerce, government and law, localisation, supply chains, XML processing, and other areas of need identified by its members. OASIS open standards offer the potential to lower cost, stimulate innovation, grow global markets, and protect the right of free choice of technology. The consortium has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries. http://www.oasis-open.org