Introduction

Message from the Managing Director 04Administration and Management bodies 06Some figures from 2008 08Our activity in 2008 10Accounting balance 11Internationalisation 12Specialisation and key sectors 14

Software unit

Our value contribution 16The customer’s opinion 18Unit headlines 20Relevant projects 24

Information Society unit

Message from the Unit Manager 30The customer’s opinion 32Unit headlines 34Relevant projects 36

Once again I have the pleasure of presenting our annual report which reflects the activities carried out by the European Software Institute Foundation, ESI-Tecnalia, during 2008. And once again I must say that I am extremely proud to belong to a team of people who have achieved important results exceeding the significant challenges set for 2008.

Last year, our excellent team of professionals continued to work to connect the generation of knowledge with the creation of products and services capable of improving the competitiveness of IT companies. Often these efforts are aimed at improving the perception that companies, in particular the SMEs, have of knowledge as a competitive market strategy. We involved them in our R&D projects and technological services in order to become their partner in thei competitive strategy.

Message from the Managing Director

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This part of our activity has led to excellent results, both in the number of joint projects with companies and in the centre’s and the two units’ financial results (in terms of revenue and operating profit). In line with this we should emphasis two particularly important aspects:

On the one hand, the sharp increase in the results of the Software UNE is evident, and is supported by the growth of the Services Area. On the other hand, I would like to emphasise the consolidation of the Information Society Unit as a transversal Unit with a leading role in many sectors and a close relationship with the Public Administrations.

I would finally also like to underline another milestone of 2008 the decision taken agreement adopted by ESI-Tecnalia’s BoT at its meeting in December, whereby ESI-Tecnalia is incorporated into the definition of the Merger Protocol together with Labein-Tecnalia, Robotiker-Tecnalia, Inasmet-Tecnalia, Fatronik-Tecnalia and Cidemco-Tecnalia, which is the first step in the merger process of all of these centres.

Manu PregoManaging Director.

Manu Prego: MANAGING DIRECTORMargarita P. Zabalza: GENERAL SECRETARIAT DIRECTORSergio Bandinelli: SOFTWARE UNIT DIRECTORJosé María Calleja: INFORMATION SOCIETY UNIT DIRECTORJosé Arias: SERVICES DIRECTORJosé Ramón Lamenca: STRATEGIC MARKETING DIRECTORAlberto Silleras: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Board of Directors

The fundation´sboard oftrustees

as at 31/12/08

Administration and Management bodies

Chair: Luigi Viscione ALMAVIVA, SpAVice-Chair Javier Morrás IBERDROLASecretary: Roberto Ibarretxe Aspiunza LANTIKMembers: Erwin Schoitsch AUSTRIAN RESEARCH CENTERS GmbH-ARC, Josu Velasco BBK, Izaskun Artetxe DIPUTACIÓN FORAL DE VIZCAYA, George Ivanov Sharkov ESI CENTER BULGARIA, Iñaki Tellechea GOBIERNO VASCO, Iñaki Rementería IBERMÁTICA, Stéphan Maisons OESIA, Eva Feuer MTA SZTAKI, Josu Franco PANDA SECURITY, Klaus Beetz SIEMENS, Celio Wolfarth UNISINOS,Ignacio Largo UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAIS VASCO, Iñaki Berroeta VODAFONE, Gamal Mohamed Aly SOFTWARE ENGINEERING COMPETENCE CENTER (SECC).

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Sponsoring

Corporate

Institutional

Members of the Foundation

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Some figures from 2008

StaffDistribution

bygender

STAFF AND ORGANISATION

Female

Male

StaffComposition

byqualification

43%

Other qualifications

PhD

University Diplomas

Graduates

72%

21%

5%2%

1,3%

57%

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Evolution of the

revenue

Evolution of theactivity

10,5MILLION EURO total incomeapoyo

aportaciones de socios

proyectos competitivos

servicios

Basque Government and ProvincialCouncil of Vizcaya Support

Member contributions

Competitive Projects

Services

9,1%

29,8%59,8%

1,3%

EVOLUTIONOF THE

ACTIVITY

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Technological services performed(national)

Our activityin 2008

BalanceSheet on 31/12/0839

80

60

92 18

R&D Projects

Companies involved in R&D projects

Companiessupportedthrough services

Technological services performed (international)

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ASSETSFixed Assets 7.805.170,23Intangible fixed assets 189.291,10Tangible fixed assets 7.493.410,96Financial investments 122.468,17

Deferred charges -

Current assets 12.628.137,13Inventories 3.103.957,74Accounts receivable 8.947.434,91Short-term financial investments 108.003,00Cash 464.438,48Pre-paid expenses 4.303,00

TOTAL ASSETS 20.433.307,36

EXPENDITURE Operating expenditure 9.135.117,51Positive operating results 1.378.796,49Financial expenditure 495.065,75Positive results from ordinary activities 883.730,74Total loses and extraordinary expenditure 417.575,40Positive extraordinary results 60.622,38Positive results before tax 898.137,54Positive surplus from the year (saving) -

REVENUEOperating revenue 10.513.914,00Negative operating results - Total financial revenue 14.406,80Negative financial results -480.658,95Total profits and extraordinary revenue 478.197,78Negative extraordinary results -

LIABILITIESShareholders Investments 5.780.917,58Deferred revenue 1.618.530,64Long-term debt 5.033.266,93Payable to credit entities 4.854.995,33Other payables 178.271,60Short-term debt 8.000.592,21Payable to credit entities 2.862.706,24Short-term payable to Group and associated companies 25.332,34Trade accounts payable 3.419.655,12Other payables 927.058,70Advance revenues and advance interest collected 765.839,81TOTAL LIABILITIES 20.433.307,36Surplus from the financial year 898.137,54

BalanceSheet on 31/12/08

IncomeStatementon 31/12/08

Financial Statements

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ESICenter network

The ESICenters network grew again in 2008 with the creation of a new centre: the ESICenter SECC in Egypt. In February ESI-Tecnalia signed an agreement with ITIDA, the IT Industry Development Agency of the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, to incorporate an ESICenter to SECC (Software Engineering Competence Center). SECC is a center affiliated to ITIDA and has broad experience in managing Cluster Approach Projects to implement and certify companies with the CMMI® model.

The objective of this new ESICenter is to provide productivity and reuse services, digital enterprise services and information security services to Egyptian businesses. Its other priority is to participate in research and development projects in cooperation with ESI, European companies and Egyptian companies. The ESICenter will act in the territories of Egypt, North Africa and the Middle East.

On the other hand, 2008 saw a consolidation of the activities within the ESICenter network, Some of the most important projects include: The Digitalisation Plan for the Bogota tourism sector (Colombia), ITMark Cluster Approach Project with the Bogota Chamber of Commerce (Colombia), CMMI Cluster Approach Project in Brazil, Reuse Associative Project in Cairo (Egypt) and the continuation of the regional competitiveness activities in East Europe. Technology transfer is a key aspect of these projects and as a result the international network of consultants was also extended: four opTIma consultants (digital maturity model) and two ITMark auditors were trained and authorised in the ESICenter Sinertic Andino, and another two ITMark appraisers were authorized in the ESICenter Bulgaria.

Lastly, we should point out that the ESICenter Cono Sur was the local host of the 2008 SEPG Latin America Conference which was held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on 12th, 13th and 14th November.

ESI@net Commercial Network

2008 was a very important year for the consolidation of the ESI@net network. The year closed with a total of 56 partners covering 45 countries throughout the world and the revenue obtained through the network was 822,324 €.

The work performed during 2007 and 2008 to position the ESI@net Partner as a local partner to boost regional Cluster Approach Projects bore fruit in 2008 as around 50% of the network’s revenue came from associative projects.

In 2008 Europe was defined as the network’s target market, and as such commercial partners were actively sought in these markets. Two British partners were incorporated into the network: Systonomy and Oxford Software Engineering, and another three European partners are expected to join in early 2009.

Apart from the consolidated sales of advanced technological services (CMMI, ITMark etc), amongst the sales from 2008 we could also highlight: the SOA training courses and the reuse consultancy services, as well as the initiatives to promote the Information Society through the opTIma model or the ITCard certification.

The efficiency of the network has been defined as the main objective for 2009 with the aim of increasing the Partners’ commercial activity and efficiency, with special focus on the sale of technology generated by ESI through the R&D projects.

Internationalisation

The development of a competitive Information Technologies sector with technological solutions aimed at a universal and mature market is, without doubt, our raison d’être. This challenge is not only the essence of our mission but also the driving force behind our specialisation and the source of the two Business Units in which ESI-Tecnalia develops its activity: Software and the Information Society.

In order to achieve this, we are dedicated to both of the complementary aspects of the IT sector: the supply, supported by the Software Unit, and the demand, promoted through the Information Society Unit. We focus on the one hand on making the software and service industry a mature, productive sector par excellence, thereby guaranteeing the utmost quality of the IT solutions which are launched onto the market. On the other hand, we focus our efforts on guaranteeing that society as a whole can access these solutions and make an effective and intelligent use of them, which includes all citizens regardless of their physical and technological capacity and the small and medium-sized enterprises from all sectors.

At the Software Unit we specialise in developing and deploying models, methods and tools which increase the quality of the processes and the productivity of the companies which develop software and services.

At the Information Society Unit, our specialisation focuses on knowledge certification in the use of Internet and I.T. tools, accessibility to the Information Technology, and the digitalisation of the small and medium-sized enterprises and Public Authorities.

Specialisation and key sectors

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Alberto SillerasBusiness Development Director.

Sergio BandinelliSoftware Unit Director.

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“Powered by ESI”This phrase sums up our “raison d’être”. Our efforts are focused and aimed at strengthening organisations in which software is a key element of the business so that they can, in turn, provide a better response to their customers’ requirements.

But how do we achieve this?Firstly, we use Information Technology as an effective tool for improving the business. The emphasis and motivation lies in contributing value to the business and IT must facilitate and enhance customer business. This approach is increasingly common among companies from all sectors, who are converting their software and systems department into a key part of their business strategy. Both in industrial products and in services, software is increasingly providing differential value which distinguishes companies from competitors and makes them more attractive to their customers.

On the other hand, in order to boost organisations we need to convert the results of our R&D projects into technological assets with tangible, proven benefits. A large part of our efforts are aimed at managing the knowledge of tools, architectures, standards, models, demonstrators, prototypes, methodologies, components, etc. In short, our aim is that our technological services and projects translate into an effective transfer of this technology to customers, in order to make them self-sufficient. This is complemented with training so that the organisations are capable of taking their own decisions in an autonomous manner.

To sum up, we offer maximum potential to customers who become our strategic partners, with whom we collaborate in R&D projects and who value independent advice which is not linked to any particular solutions provider.

This report contains some examples of organisations “powered by ESI” through joint services and projects which we hope to intensify and extend.

Software unitOur value contribution

Indra managed to increase its turnover by 9.8% in 2008. What role has Indra Software Labs played in this growth?

Indra Software Labs is a “delivery” unit within Indra. The structure of the various software factories, its geographic location and the specialisation of its technicians allow for greater productivity and therefore the ability to make more competitive offers.

What were Indra Software Labs’ most significant landmarks in 2008?

In 2008 we achieved CMMI certifications 3 and 4 as well as the consolidation of the near-shore model and the start of off-shore activities. It was also a very important year as regards efforts made in R+D.

Taking into account the current economic situation, what are your future challenges?

Our main challenge is to become even more productive in order to compete in an increasingly globalised market, and to have a specialised line of own products which make us stand out from the competition.

Within this context of crisis, what differentiating values does Indra Software Labs provide to its customers and to the market in general?

We basically provide specialisation, technical capacity, quality processes and diversity in the geographic locations, functioning as a single Development Centre.

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The customer’s opinion

Santiago EscribanoIndra Software Labs Managing Director.

How much more can Indra Software Labs and ESI-Tecnalia continue providing value to the Market?

The winning binomial is to offer quality and competitive costs. The market knows that prices are currently low, but quality has also dropped sharply. As such, both Indra Software Labs and ESI work together to offer the market competitively priced solutions without reducing quality.

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ESI-Tecnalia and Indra Software Labs have had a close relationship for a number of years: How would you assess the strategic value of this collaboration?

We have a very interesting relationship with ESI which we wish to maintain. We view ESI more as a partner than as a certifier as it helps us throughout our continuous improvement process.

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Unit headlines

3 projects approved in the first ARTEMIS call

Artemis is a Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) focussed on embedded systems, which constitute one of the main industrial and technological advantages of the EU in the worldwide market. In this context, three projects were approved in the first call of this platform in which ESI-Tecnalia participates: eDiana, CESAR and SOFIA. The total budget for these projects is over €3 million, and the global subsidy obtained by ESI-Tecnalia is 50%.

The eDiana project focuses on the use of ICT to encourage energy efficiency in buildings and neighbourhoods. The CESAR project aims to establish tools and methodologies to develop critical systems on which human lives depend, like for example air traffic control systems. Finally, the SOFIA project deals with the development of tools and services for intelligent object interaction in intelligent settings, which allow problems and their solution to be detected, such as for example detecting and offering healthcare assistance to people with difficulties.

2008 ITEA Awards for LOMS and TRUST4All projects led by ESI-Tecnalia

The LOMS and TRUST4All projects won ITEA awards for their outstanding contributions to this programme. The LOMS project received two awards: The Gold Achievement Award for its exceptional contribution to the ITEA programme and the Silver Exhibition Award. This project seeks to define and develop open services architecture where innovative local mobile services can be easily created and deployed to be used by mobile users, facilitating the creation by small and medium-sized enterprises and non-professional users of their own mobile services and allowing the transfer of contents and the provision of services in B2C settings.

The TRUST4All project, on the other hand, received the ITEA Achievement Award 2008 – Bronze, with its objective of developing software architecture specially aimed at embedded systems which require a certain degree of reliability and security due to the nature of the services that they provide: tele-assistence, home security, home automation, telecommunications and on-the-move applications..

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Collaboration agreements with Systonomy and Everis Worldwide

Systonomy is a leading consultancy firm focussed on Lean, Six Sigma and DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) methodology, aimed at both software development and ICT companies. Systonomy and ESI have signed a collaboration agreement aimed at launching a training and certification scheme in Six Sigma for IT. This will be the first reference and recognition scheme for Six Sigma in the IT sector. Additionally, a line of training and consulting services will be developed for the implementation of Six Sigma in IT companies. These services will be available in 2009.

On the other hand, ESI-Tecnalia and Everis have for some time been closely collaborating with the aim of innovating in the area of software quality. This relationship, which has been fundamental for the creation of the Everis Centers and their evolution, has gelled in a collaboration agreement to tackle joint projects with the objective of providing the customer not only with a technological vision but also a business vision and strategic value. One of the first results of this collaboration is starting the project to define, set up and exploitation the project office of the Spanish Traffic Agency (Dirección General de Tráfico) with the CMMI-ACQ model. This project represents one of the first large-scale project offices based on the CMMI-ACQ model on the European level and reinforces ESI as a reference for software acquisition models in public authorities and large corporations.

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Week@ESI 2008: Meet to Compete

In 2008, ESI-Tecnalia organised the first Edition of the Week@ESI, a networking forum for all ESI’s collaborators as well as for all those working around to improve competitiveness of the IT sector in their region: ESI@net Partners, ESICenters, Patrons, local, regional and national governments, sectorial associations, technology parks, research centres, universities etc. In total over 350 people took part in the Week’s activities from countries as diverse as: Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Egypt, France, Germany, Korea, Serbia etc.

The Week@ESI was composed of a series of events throughout the week:

Annual ESI@net event

This tenth event brought together 20 partners from all around the world to hear about the new products and services, share their commercial experience and strategies and draw up a balance of the previous year.

International Congress “Clustering SMEs for a Competitive IT Sector”

This second edition of the Congress was a meeting point for all those working on Cluster Approach Projects around the world, in order to promote the competitiveness of the IT sector. A Cluster Approach Project is one that groups the interests of a number of SMEs coordinated by an intermediary organisation, and that can receive the financial and political support of a government. With this cooperation model investments and support is maximised, thus guaranteeing results on an individual SME level and on the level of the sector.

Speakers at the Congress include: Paul Nielsen from SEI, Victor Izquierdo from the Spanish Ministry of Industry Tourism and Commerce, Directors General of Information Society Units of seven Spanish Regional governments, Fredy Bentancurt from the IADB/MIF, Sonja Andronova from GTZ and Byunsgun Ku from the Korean Software Promotion Agency. In total over 200 people from 22 countries took part in the Congress.

ESI Awards for Software Excellence

The ESI Awards for Software Excellence recognise companies’ efforts and commitment to software process improvement and continuous improvement.

The 2008 winners were:

• TelefónicaChile,intheInternationalCategory. • MultiprocessorSystems,Bulgaria,intheEuropeanCategory. • ComexIntegración,Spain,intheSMECategory. • AndtheSoftAragónandCOMPETICprojects,intheClusterApproachProjectCategory.

Roundtable: Internationalisation of R&D

The fact is that nowadays R&D is an activity that is conceived and executed “online” and goes beyond the borders of organisations and countries. This Roundtable was organised to promote the debate about the internationalisation of R&D with its corresponding challenges and benefits, seeking the vision of the different agents involved (panellists and those attending), as the basis for preparing future policies and actions.

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Informática El Corte Inglés (IECISA): Dynamic focus to Software factories

Informática El Corte Inglés plans to establish a common work methodology for its software development factory, seeking to improve the efficiency between the different development centres and ensuring compliance with the commitments, in relation to periods, cost and quality, independently of the development centre from the work is performed. ESI-Tecnalia has supported Informática El Corte Inglés in the implementation of CMMI®-DEV to achieve maturity level 3 at its software factory. A particular feature and innovative element of this project, apart from responding to the specific objectives, was to resolve the paradox which is not very common in this type of process improvement programme, to combine flexible methodologies, like SCRUM, with a good practices model like CMMI. ESI-Tecnalia’s collaboration with the IECI team enabled the technical and business challenges involved in the project to be met.

Launch of the Future Internet Programme

Future Internet is an initiative promoted by the European Commission through the Future Internet Assembly (FIA) platform which aims to help to define, from the technical point of view, the requirements necessary for the Future Internet. Within the FIA are a series of FP6 and FP7 projects which the European Commission has grouped together taking into account the four pillars which are defined as Future Internet:

• Internetbyandforpeople• ContentsandknowledgeInternet• Internetofthings• ServicesInternet

ESI-Tecnalia, as an integral part of the FIA, participates in three projects launched within the ambit of Future Internet: SHAPE, COIN and SHIELDS.

ESI-Tecnalia is also a founding party and member of the Management committee of the es.Internet platform, which is a national initiative following the same objectives as the FIA although in this case transferring Spain’s specific needs in Future Internet, defining the strategic agenda which specifies the requirements of the Spanish sector.

This Roundtable had top-level international panellists from research organisations, private companies and public authorities involved and renowned for defining and setting up international R&D projects and initiatives, such as José María Cavanillas from Atos Origin; Javier Mardaras from Acciona; Gabriel Baum from Universidad de La Plata (Argentina); Kostas Glinos; European Commission Head of Embedded Systems Unit; Paul Nielsen from SEI-CMU (USA) and Juan Tomás Hernani; from Innobasque.

The conclusions from the roundtable reinforced the idea that we are immersed in a global talent market where today’s decisions will strongly condition our future. For a while now, R&D has surpassed the limits of laboratories, to place itself in the international cooperation context thus participating in forums where knowledge is generated.

COIN: Supporting Collaboration and Interoperability between Companies

In 2020 the collaboration between companies and interoperability services will be invisible, omnipresent and business adaptation knowledge will be available to European companies in all sectors. In this way networks of companies can be rapidly established, effectively managed and can operate through different cooperation formulas, from the most basic supply chains to the more advanced and dynamic business ecosystems.

COIN’s objective is to study, design and develop a Services Platform for the collaboration and interoperability of business networks, defining Services for interaction between companies.

In particular, an open code COIN services platform will be capable of securely setting out, integrating and combining the collaboration and interoperability services between companies, applying intelligent maturity models, regulations and guidelines to support the management in order to guarantee the best combination of the necessary services taking into account the business context and industrial sector, the size of the companies involved and the collaboration dynamics.

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Relevantprojects

Improving IT services for open source SMEs Project

The Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) is revolutionising the strategies in Information Technology and the Software Industry. Free Software is increasingly present throughout companies, public authorities, education, homes and in all kinds of products and systems. It is a reality which is growing continuously worldwide and which offers new business opportunities particularly in the supply of solutions through IT services as opposed to the Software products development model.

ESI and ASOLIF (Business Federation of Federated Free Software Associations) launched a Cluster Approach Project with 6 FLOSS SMEs with the aim of improving the collection of processes which are essential in order to create, provide and evolve the IT services and demonstrate through the ISO 20.000 certification.

SHAPE: Common Model for defining services

Currently, the needs of companies and their business are linked to technical requirements. The evolution of these technical requirements also shapes the evolution of their business. Within this context, the objective of the SHAPE project is to provide a standard to define and specify IT services so that developers can use these standards when developing their services architecture based on SoA (Service-oriented Architecture).The aim is therefore to achieve a common understanding for each development, regardless of who performs it, with the result that any developer can interpret any IT service thanks to this standard.

To achieve this goal, SHAPE will develop a methodology based on MDA (Model Driven Architecture), related to the analysis, design and object-oriented programming, for which ESI-Tecnalia is the responsible organisation. MDA is a new way of writing specifications and developing IT applications based on a model independent of the platform. MDA development focuses first of all on the functionality and behaviour of an application, regardless of the technology or technologies on which they are implemented. MDA separates the details of the implementation from the business functions. It is therefore not necessary to repeat the modelling process of the functionality and the behaviour of an application or system whenever new technology appears, thereby facilitating the implementation and development of any IT application.

This development of the worldwide standard, for which ESI-Tecnalia is the responsible organisation, will last for 30 months and will be completed at the end of 2010.

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The COIN project will last for 48 months and aims to end in 2011, and in which 21 international organizations are participating, including ESI-Tecnalia.

ESI-Tecnalia is the organisation entrusted with developing the Interoperability and Collaboration Maturity Model through which a specific company’s level of maturity can be measured in order to collaborate with other companies as well as their degree of interoperability, i.e. the degree of communication between systems without the need for human intervention.

SHIELDS: Secure software

Software is still highly vulnerable. Its security gaps constantly threaten it with all types of risk. One of the reasons is that the information about its vulnerability is not easily available to the software developers, and neither is it integrated into the systems that they used during the software development lifecycle. The fundamental concept of SHIELDS is based on creating a shared repository of security information, which can be used by software developers, and the tools used by them.

The tools will access the repository in order to obtain security information (vulnerabilities and safeguards) and translate it into their internal format. Various objectives are sought:

• Toovercomethegulfexistingbetweensecurityexpertsandsoftwaredevelopers.• Facilitateandmakeiteasierforsecurityexpertstoreporttheinformationabouttheidentifiedsecurity risks to the community of developers. • Helptheindividualdeveloperstoavoidordetectandeliminatethesecurityvulnerabilitiesdirectlythrough the tools normally used by them.

PLUM: Greater productivity in systems development

In the world of IT, the customers demand solutions which are adapted to their needs and specific features. The fact is that the standard solutions are not always valid and it is in this capacity to adapt to the customer’s context that customer satisfaction usually lies. As such: What mechanisms do we have in order to be able to offer a product adapted to each customer without this leading to losses of productivity and quality?

Therefore to generate similar products, and opposed to the normal manual modification techniques, ESI-Tecnalia focuses its efforts on some of the most advanced techniques, like Model-Driven Development and Software Product Lines. These methodologies and tools propose a strategic and automatic reuse of software and all of the related project elements (designs, requirements, tests, etc.). In the medium and long-term this focus provides numerous advantages, like reducing the time-to-market, increasing the software quality and reducing the costs in general. Amongst the technological research line on model-driven software reuse and development, ESI-Tecnalia has developed a PLUM tool (Product Line Unified Modeller) http://www.esi.es/plum . PLUM’s objective consists in offering an integrated solution to support the entire lifecycle of a Software Product Line.

The design, development and management of this architecture is performed following a MDSD (Model Driven Software Development) focus in which the variability of the product is modelled and, from that knowledge, a whole family of products derives which satisfy the specific needs of the different customers.

Reuse tools like PLUM are not in themselves enough to guarantee success, but they do facilitate the work. Various industrial pilot projects, led by ESI-Tecnalia, have been performed over the last year in different domains, which go from built-in systems to Web systems.

This open-source tool has also been well received at prestigious international research conferences given the fact that the tool’s development and improvement plan incorporates innovative aspects in this field of the science. It is interesting to note that improvements were developed from the FLEXI European project in which ESI-Tecnalia researched the flexible methodologies and how to introduce into the development of Software Product Lines the flexible response to changes in requirements or architecture.

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• Increaseawarenessamongstthedevelopersoftheknownsecurityvulnerabilities.• Helpsoftwaredevelopmentorganisationstoverify(internallyandbeforeitscustomers)thattheirproducts` security vulnerabilities have been successfully reduced.

In order to carry out these objectives SHIELDS will provide a repository service of security vulnerabilities; new security methods and tools; and some SHIELDS certification programmes.

This will generate greater confidence amongst users, less overlapped effort and, above all, more secure software.

ESI-Tecnalia, within the SHIELDS project, is entrusted with modelling the vulnerabilities in the source code so that they can be more easily detected later on, and performing the certifications and methodologies outline for the SHIELDS certification programmes: SHIELDS Compliant: for tools which use SHIELDS repository services in a compatible and appropriate manner; and SHIELDS Verified to certify software which has been tested and shown not to have security vulnerabilities during the development.

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REALTH (Remote Health): New Technologies for medical assistance

The REALTH project, led by the Fuenlabrada Hospital, in Madrid, and whose Technical office is managed by ESI-Tecnalia, is a strategic project within the framework of the Plan Avanza. REALTH seeks to obtain greater social welfare by improving the management of the health services and resources in three areas or ambits:

Internal within the health centre: by optimising the management of the internal health resources and services. In this context, and using RFID technology (Radio Frequency Identification), vitally important aspects are improved like locating patients and health teams in Accident and Emergency Departments and administering the medicines (locating them and application order) for ontological patients, thereby achieving a more reliable and safer healthcare service.

From the health centre to the patient at home or in a residence: via Tele-service, using a PDA, internet or Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), those persons who receive an early discharge to complete their recovery outside of the hospital can enjoy home assistance supported by greater quality, more reliable and comfortable ICT services for the patient, with the remote monitoring of their vital signs, blood pressure, etc. This optimises the resources of the health centres by reducing costs, alleviating the space problem, and the patients are comfortable as they reduce their travel and favour their recovery at home or in a residence where they feel more comfortable.

From the health centre to the citizens and Inclusion: it covers the offer of health services from the hospital to society in general with emphasis on accessibility for those with disabilities or special needs. In this area a breastfeeding course is being developed so that it can be transmitted to health centres via DTT. This course will be translated into various languages in order to avoid the exclusion of groups because of the language.

Security and confidence are of the utmost importance, both understood within the context of safe and reliable health services for the patient and for the health centre: which comply with the LOPD (Spanish Organic Personal Data Protection Act), which have secure communications, which guarantee the integrity and privacy of the health data and have access control to the resources which ensure their adequate use, etc.

The REALTH project will last for two and a half years (July 2007 to December 2009). The results are currently validated in two hospitals; Fuenlabrada Hospital, in Madrid, and Barbastro Hospital, in Zaragoza. The aim is to validate the ICT solutions developed in REALTH for each healthcare domain, so that they can be adopted as the R&D basis for future healthcare services.

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Software Unit and Information Society Unit.Standing from left to right: Oscar Lage, Roberto Ruiz, Jesús Sánchez, Erkuden Ríos, Enrique Morey y Jesús López.Sitting: Javier Merino y Raúl Otaolea.

In the 21st century IT is the central focal point for constructing the new world economy based on knowledge. This technology is the starting point for a new worldwide way of organising and producing which redefines the way in which the countries are inserted in the economic and social system, taking into account that the modern economy increasingly depends on information and knowledge.

This worldwide phenomenon represents an opportunity to go beyond the levels of development, but also involves a new risk if it is not supported by governments and institutions like ours and if access to it is not promoted on all social levels.

Hence, the mission of the Information Society Unit is to perform permanent work to promote the use of the ICT in society, given that the technological development provided by other sectors is also continuous and therefore groups at risk of digital exclusion are constantly appearing.

InformationSociety unit

José María CallejaInformation Society Unit Director.

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The Unit deploys the following initiatives:

Web AccessibilityThe objective is to combat the existing technological discrimination through the use of standards and applying the international accessibility criteria in order to favour interoperability between multiple systems and to bring Information Technology closer to everybody regardless of their personal capabilities.

IT CardThis is a certification of basic competence in IT which proves the knowledge a person has regarding the use of IT and Internet tools.

Digital EnterpriseIn order to deploy initiatives with a high impact in the digitalisation process of the SMEs and specific activity sectors, ESI has developed a series of instruments focused on three core principles:

1. Digital Maturity Model for SMEs, which evaluates the current situation and proposes the path to be followed in the digitalisation process on the individual and collective levels. 2. Evolution towards the ICT Service Quality concept as a factor which boosts the relationship between supply and demand and goes beyond the product-focused culture. 3. Decisive action in the field of awareness and dissemination during all initiatives in order to mobilise and help throughout all of the implementation phases and, in short, to transmit the message to all SMEs about both supply and demand.

Carmen Ayllón MartínezDirector of Company Support Programmes.The Spanish Council of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Navigation.

The Chambers of Commerce have always been committed to pioneering initiatives which offer competitive advantages to the small and medium-sized enterprise. Specifically, the Chambers of Commerce consider that IT offers companies ideal tools to become more dynamic and to save costs.

What role do the Chambers of Commerce play in promoting Information and Communication Technology?

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The customer’s opinion

What type of related initiatives are you performing at the Spanish Council of Chambers of Commerce?

The Council of Chambers of Commerce has developed projects to boost the use of the IT among SMEs since 2002. Amongst others, we could mention the Prince project aimed at self-employed persons; the Nexopyme project to encourage Internet use amongst small enterprises, the FEDER Digital Census project promoting the use of the digital certificate by companies and finally the current project Adapt Companies to the Digital Economy which aims to facilitate the SMEs using applications in SaaS for-mat (Software as a Service).

Why SaaS amongst the SMEs?

Because the SaaS version applications offer clear advantages for the small and medium-sized enterprises, such as:

Mobility, given that any computer can be used for the work provided that it has data access.

Security, given that the suppliers’ servers/hosting are more secure than the personal computer of a small company.

Growth, given that the SaaS applications offer the SMEs human and technical resources specialised in ICT which the SMEs do not normally have amongst their workforce.

Specialisation, as it trusts others with maintaining the routine tasks, the company can concentrate on the activity per se which is to produce with quality, innovate and customer care.

In short, just as the companies and end-consumers have found a goldmine in the information and software available

on the Internet to manage their IT activities and leisure (travel, flights, films, songs, social networks, bank operations, etc.), it is now time for SMEs to discover the opportunities provided by SaaS applications for their business process.

What is your opinion of the current situation regarding the degree of adoption of IT in SMEs?

Significant effort is being made by public authorities so that SMEs can integrate and make the most use of the potential of IT. However, in my opinion, there is still a lot to be done in order to overcome the so-called “digital divide” and so that the culture of “Internet work” can reach the vast majority of Spanish SMEs.

Which activity sectors stand out the most and the least in terms of their technological level?

In principle sectors are not more or less prone to using technology. There are driving elements which over time revitalise certain sectors rather than others, such as the presence of large contracting companies or the sector’s degree of internationalisation. However, what is most relevant to the adoption of technology is the culture of the company’s managers and their desire not to be left behind.

How to you value the collaboration with the European Software Institute?

The relations with the Institute within the framework of the Company Adaptation to the Digital Economy project are very fluid and constructive thanks to a very pragmatic focus which allows the correct combination of the technical domain of the software setting with the needs and demands of the SMEs in the Information Society.

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ICT and Dependency Congress

On 15th January 2009 over 300 people attended the 1st National New Technologies and Dependency Congress in Valladolid organised by the Regional Government of Castilla y Leon Ministry for Promotion and FUNDETEC. ESI-Tecnalia actively participated in the event by preparing and distributing a questionnaire/study focusing on finding out the perception of those with disabilities and of older people vis-à-vis the New Technologies, and what use do they make of them at the Base Centres for Disabled Persons, Base Social Services and at the Residential Home. The final report shows that these groups consider a study should be carried out on the use of the ICT at these centres in order to improve the services.

ESI-Tecnalia participates in the launch of the European project DEN4DEK

The consortium is made up of 19 partners in 10 EU member countries (Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Finland, Holland and Portugal) which belong to regional governments, universities, foundations and companies from all areas of activity. DEN4DEK is aimed at consolidating new business cooperation tools which are currently being implemented and will provide the partners with a new tool in which they can find other experiences of Ecosystems implementation. This tool will also cover an open knowledge management system orientated towards a non-expert user, which will allow any company or entity in the region to access it and obtain basic or advanced information about Digital Ecosystems.

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Unit headlines

Revision of WebPages in order to improve the accessibility of Basque SMEs

During 2008, ESI-Tecnalia continued performing training and auditing actions for the Basque Government on the matter of Web Accessibility. Within the framework of the Enpresa Digitala public initiative, which promotes the improvement of business competitiveness through the use of the ICT, over the year ESI-Tecnalia professionals trained over 160 people on various contents relating to said speciality, and audited a total of 292 websites which have been registered in the Hobeki Digitala (280 websites, of which 120 correspond to level “A” audits and 160 to level “AA” audits) and KZ Lankidetza (12 websites) programmes. Of these 292 websites, 73.63% were classified as accessible.

Accessibility management system for guadalinfo.es

The Network of Public Access Centres of the Regional Government of Andalusia, GUADALINFO, worked with ESI-Tecnalia experts in order to develop and implement an Accessibility Management System for its official website www.guadalinfo.es in order to obtain in the short-term the Certification of the UNE ICT Accessibility regulation 139.803. A complete audit was also performed on the real level of accessibility in order to detect possible problems. GUADALINFO is a network of towns with less than 10,000 inhabitants which will allow the creation of 636 centres with broadband Internet access.

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Relevant projects

Vanesa MartínezWebmaster.

Digitalisation of the tourism sector in Bogotá

The Bogota Digital Tourism Institute, in collaboration with ESI-Tecnalia and the ESICenter Sinertic Andino situated in Bogotá, has developed a strategic plan to digitalise the Colombia tourism sector with a twofold objective: first of all to objectively find out the degree of technologicalmaturity in the companies in the sector, and secondly to draw up the Ministry’s future action lines within the scope of ICT aimed at improving the quality and competitiveness of the tourism sector.

The development of said strategic plan is based on the assessment of 48 companies in the sector, including travel agents, hotels, transport companies and restaurants, with the aim of evaluating the level of digital maturity in their business processes.

As a result of it the initial evaluation,each participating company has been provided with an individualised improvement plan which allows them to know their current state of digitalisation and the actions required so that they can advance in the inclusion of the ICT in their business processes.

At the same time, using the information obtained, the main action lines have been established in order to improve the sector’s competitive position in the country through the use of the ICT. The Digitalisation Plan is the result of the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses detected in the Bogota tourism companies. This is a flexible tool which allows the companies in the sector as a whole to establish priorities in order to digitalise their business processes.

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Bulgaria commits to the IT Card

Since its implementation in 2005, in collaboration with the ESICenter Bulgaria, this certification service is being use by companies, schools, citizens and the public sector. Deployed through a network of 400 authorised centres, institutions like the Ministry for Public Administration use this certification as an element for motivating and giving recognition to its employees. With the support of the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) over 30,000 civil servants have performed some of the examinations within the catalogue of ESI-Tecnalia certifications.

Recognition by the Administration, the support of the UNDP programme, and the easy and comfortable access to this certification system, is converting the IT Card into the ICT certification par excellence in this country.

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Company adaptation to the digital economy

The Spanish Council of Chambers of Commerce awarded ESI-Tecnalia’s Information Society Unit the project for the development of the Company Adaptation to the Digital Economy Programme which fundamentally aims to promote the use of Information Systems as effective tools to increase the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, the main beneficiaries of the programme.

The Council of Chambers of Commerce decided to commit itself to spreading company management solutions (ERP, CRM, etc.) distributed under the Software as a Service (SaaS) model or software on demand, as an unbeatable solution which adapts to the needs and characteristics of the SMEs. Within this programme ESI-Tecnalia prepared a market survey on the offer of national SaaS services providers in order to find out what the real level of supply currently exists and how services are implemented by each provider, determining their maturity and solvency. In parallel, the endorsement bases and requirements have been defined for the providers who will participate in the programme and which will form part of the Council of Chambers of Commerce’s catalogue of providers, so that an offer of proven quality can be assured. And without forgetting the services demand, ESI-Tecnalia has developed an evaluation methodology in order to determine the capacity of the SMEs to adopt a technological solution in SaaS mode, which allows objective criteria to be established in order to incorporate companies into the Programme.

ESI-Tecnalia also continues supporting the Council of Chambers of Commerce in developing and promoting this initiative.

Catalogue of ICT Services

Within the Plan Avanza and together with Fundetec, ESI-Tecnalia has participated in a project aimed at providing the ICT Advisors with a Catalogue of ICT Services which have previously passed the Service Quality requirement under the eTIQ brand. The aim is to promote the “SaaS” concept which is beginning to become consolidated in the market despite the fact that it is not very regulated. ESI-Tecnalia has also developed the technology transfer mechanisms so that the Public Administrations can incorporate the eTIQ brand into their programmes. The transfer includes both advice and training for the programme managers and for the network of regional advisors.

The improvement to the results of the initiatives is focused on two fundamental indicators: increasing the number of ICT adoption projects, and improving their degree of success.

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© 2009, ESI-Tecnalia Edition: ESI-Tecnalia Design: Ba! Creativos, Miss Brown Layout: Miss BrownPhotography: Javier Larrea Film and Printing: Lankopi We would like to thank all ESI-Tecnalia colleagues that collaborated in the editing of this document.

ESI-Tecnalia

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