Itautec, Serpro team up for open source software

Brazilian IT solutions provider Itautec has partnered with the federal government's data processing unit Serpro and Brasilia's Catholic University (UCB) to develop open source software, the company said in a statement. Itautec has built a software research and development center within the university which will also be used to test software created by state data processing units. The center's first product will help manage e-mail systems for Serpro, and if successful, will be extended to other governmental departments. "Serpro believes that this type of cooperation stimulates the development of new technologies, with the incentive for an effective integration between the corporate, academic and government areas," Serpro networks manager Marco Fridl said. Itautec is the IT development unit of one of Brazil's biggest companies, Itausa, whose principal asset is the country's second-largest private bank, Itau.