Time for the Government to GIF with it

I apologize for the title of this blog, as I’m hopelessly in love with puns. I’m also a fan of transparency and an übergeek when it comes to new technology. IMB hit this trifecta today when they released their Government Industry Framework (GIF). According to the press release:

IBM unveiled the IBM Government Industry Framework (GIF), designed to address persistent challenges that Governments face today. IBM GIF is a unified software platform for implementing comprehensive solutions focused around improving citizen services, increasing transparency, enhancing public safety, crime prevention, managing law enforcement, disaster management, security threats, exploding urban and IT infrastructure, effective traffic management and tax and revenue management.

The framework follows a unified approach to accelerate the deployment of solutions to build a Smarter Government. This approach is superior to the two traditional practices: custom development, which is lengthy and expensive, and packaged applications that are inflexible, standalone and requires heavy customization. The framework enables customers to choose from a variety of industry solutions that are pre-integrated on common middleware and industry-specific extensions. As a result, customers can deploy solutions in their current environment faster and at lower cost without compromising on flexibility and choice.

Cheap, customizable, and government transparency? Did you hear that? It was all the government’s excuses flying out the window.