Open Source Software Institute

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Open Source Software Institute (OSSI) is a US-based non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the development and implementation of open source software solutions within U.S. federal, state and municipal government agencies and academic entities. OSSI was established in 2000 and maintains offices on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi and at the Stennis Space Center.

[edit] Goals

OSSI was created to serve as a liaison between the Open Source Community, the IT industry and government and academic entities. OSSI's activities are defined by its three major tenets:

An Open-Source ADVOCATE – OSSI serves as a collective resource and venue for the promotion, development and implementation of open source software solutions between corporate, government and academic entities.

A Research and Development FACILITATOR – OSSI serves as a facilitator and coordinator of R&D projects, systems and application evaluation and development and academic studies regarding technical, policy, economic/market and legal aspects of open-source software.

An Open-Source POLICY CONSORTIUM (OSSI) serves as a forum for working committees of industry, governmental and academic representatives to address open-source issues in regards to government/industry standards, academic research, economic/market and legislative policy.

[edit] Achievements

OSSI has been effective establishing inroads with the U.S Department of Defense, especially through its work with the U.S. Navy. In 2001, OSSI and the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) conducted a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to explore, identify and document the Navy's existing usage of open source programs within the NAVOCEANO enterprise system. The results of the CRADA findings are available here.

In February 2005, OSSI is entered into a second CRADA with the Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (CNMOC) to explore the Navy's usage of open source systems within CNMOC's web services, scientific computing, and business/office systems.

Since 2003, OSSI has been engaged with the Defense Medical Logistic Standards Support (DMLSS) in order to secure the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 validation for OpenSSL. An updated chronology of the project is available here.