Oracle, HP launch Indian e-governance center

Oracle announced Thursday in Delhi that it was setting up an e-Governance Center of Excellence in India in tandem with Hewlett-Packard (HP). The center will be operated jointly by the two companies and will focus on the development of model e-governance applications, as well as showcase e-governance applications that are running in India and other parts of the world, according to Shekhar Dasgupta, managing director of Oracle India Private Limited, the Delhi-based subsidiary of Oracle, based in Redwood Shores, Calif.

While Oracle will invest in the software for the center in Gurgaon near Delhi, HP will be contributing the computers, which will be primarily running the Linux operating system. “Linux will play a critical role at the center, as it will help bring down the cost per transaction for e-governance applications,” said Balu Doraisamy, president of HP India. “With Linux you can also scale applications very cost-effectively.” Oracle has already localized its 9i database to support 11 Indian languages.

“This Oracle-HP e-Governance Center of Excellence is proof of our commitment to our government customers in India, and the latest milestone in our ongoing commitment to India,” said Keith Budge, Oracle’s regional managing director for South East Asia. In addition to offering technical consultation and proof-of-concept services, the center aims to help the Indian central and state governments define and implement e-governance initiatives.

Oracle and HP’s interest in e-governance applications for India is linked to the large number of e-government initiatives in the country, according to analysts. The Indian government has spent over $1 billion on information technology in 2000, and accounted for 9 percent of the total expenditure on IT by the country, according to Stamford, Connecticut based research firm, Gartner. Government was the only recession-proof vertical that could keep up the momentum in IT spend despite a downturn in the country’s economy, Gartner added.