NESSI Technology Platform targets infrastructure for European e-services
Some of Europe's largest software, telecommunications and services companies joined forces to launch a new Technology Platform in Brussels on 7 September, with the aim of developing a generic services-oriented infrastructure to boost competitiveness and create new jobs. When the Internet revolution began during the 1990s, the hasty adoption of new technologies resulted in an information and communication technologies (ICT) landscape today that is overly complex, and based on proprietary hardware and software infrastructures. The 'networked European software and services initiative' (NESSI) Technology Platform aims to address this by creating a generic and dependable infrastructure that will act as a platform for innovative services for citizens, businesses and governments. According to Jean-Paul Lepeytre, Senior Vice President of Thales, one of the founding member companies behind the initiative: 'NESSI's ambition is to pull together competencies and resources to innovate and reach one of the main objectives: the creation of a dynamic and dependable software infrastructure middleware. This is currently a crucial missing piece, which will allow a seamless and cost effective composition of web services.' Mr Lepeytre explained that NESSI constitutes a 2.5 billion euro research effort within the scope of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), with half of the total amount being committed by industry. 'We plan to focus our research efforts on specific areas, with the aim of providing citizens, businesses and government administrations with the new services they need,' he added. At this stage, the NESSI founding members have set themselves three main tasks: to develop a services oriented infrastructure based on open software and solutions; to create a large-scale European laboratory and demonstration centre in order to implement their strategic research agenda (SRA); and to define the standards needed to ensure interoperability between the different systems. Such initiatives are expected to deliver several benefits for Europe, namely, the creation of new value-added services, improved quality of life and security for European citizens, a more competitive economy, and the creation of new jobs and the protection of existing ones from offshore relocation. 'We estimate that - directly or indirectly - this technology platform will result in the creation or protection of several hundred thousand jobs per year in Europe,' said Mr Lepeytre. And while the initiative is being launched by some of Europe's largest companies - including BT, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Nokia, SAP, and Siemens - Mr Lepeytre stressed that NESSI will be open to all players. 'Not just the big industrial companies that have not yet joined, but also - and more particularly - the many smaller industrial firms and service providers, as well as universities and government research centres and laboratories. Each will contribute its specific skills and expertise, all of which will be vital to the success of this platform,' he confirmed. It is hard to overestimate the potential impact of NESSI, given that the software and services industry in Europe employs more than one million people and accounts for five to six percent of EU GDP. Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding reacted to the launch by saying: 'I very much welcome this NESSI initiative, and the commitment shown by its partners to develop a common services platform. This has the potential to strengthen Europe's competitiveness in many economic sectors, and is another very practical step in implementing our i2010 policy for growth and jobs in Europe.