The move is key to Bahrain's advanced national e-government initiative and comes as part of a wide-ranging agreement reached between CIO, Gulf Business Machines (GBM) and IBM to supply software, hardware and services to support the transformation of citizen services in the country.
"Standards based technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for modernisation throughout society in our country. The pioneering vision of the Government of Bahrain is dedicated to ensuring that the Kindgom is at the forefront of developing technology and in driving services for our citizens with flexibility and accessibility to government services," said Shaikh Ahmed Ateyatalla Al Khalifa, Undersecretary of the CIO.
Gulf Business Machines, the sole distributor for IBM products and services in the Gulf countries for selected products outside Saudi Arabia, has been working with the CIO to drive the delivery of web-enabled applications that unify the government's information infrastructure and provide powerful services to citizens using secure hardware, network, Internet and software platforms.
The project integrates Bahrain's back-end systems, such as National Database, Immigration and Central Population Registration (CPR) systems, Decision Support systems and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) will support the introduction of a national smart card system that will give citizens access to information, services and government facilities.
Quelle/Source: Middle East North Africa Financial Network, 15.11.2007
