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Red Hat partners Singapore govt to push open source data analytics

Under the deal, Singapore state-backed Business Analytics Translational Centre will work with Red Hat to drive the use of open source to develop applications for data analytics.
Written by Ryan Huang, Contributor

SINGAPORE--Red Hat has tied up with the Singapore government to push the use of open source in developing data analytic applications.

In a media event on Tuesday, the open source technology vendor signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Business Analytics Translational Centre (BATC). The BATC was set up in 2012 by government research agency A*Star and regulator Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) to promote the use of business analytics. This includes licensing its intellectual property to startups to develop new products.

Red Hat will be collaborating with BATC in areas of big data, middleware, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), cloud and storage, for the development of current and upcoming analytics projects. The partnership will last one year.
Ang Wee Tiong, director of technology at BATC, explained: "When we do rapid prototyping, we need a platform to deploy the prototypes on, so we're using Red Hat Enterprise Linux, JBoss, application servers and the other suites for Web applications."

red-hat-partners-singapore-govt-to-push-open-source-data-analytics
Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst (center) next to Singapore minister Vivian Balakrishnan at the MOU signing.

He added the BATC would be focusing on developing products for verticals beneficial to Singapore, such as healthcare and financial sectors. Ang added BATC was currently working closely with five companies, and has received "a lot of" enquiries.
In a speech at the event, Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's minister for Environment and Water Resources, highlighted the benefits of going open source and sharing data to drive innovation. "It allows everyone to be part of a solution rather than a passive receiver of the problem," he said.

Singapore is eyeing big data as one of the key drivers for future economic growth, and has dubbed its new "natural resource". It has recently been attracting industry players to set up R&D labs here as part of efforts to foster an ecosystem.

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