01.net today reported (French | Google Translate) that two governmental institutes that recently merged will be moving to a unified Open Source-based solution. The institutes is the General Tax Directorate (DGI) and the Directorate General of Public Accountancy (DGCP) merged to create the General Directorate of Public Finance (DGFiP).
DGI with 80,000 users previously used Lotus Notes, while DGCP with 50,000 users was using Microsoft Outlook (presumably with Exchange, but the article does not reveal this). On the desktop-side, this new solution will be using Mozilla Thunderbird for email with the Lightening calendar extension.
It might also be worth mentioning that this is not the first time a French government switches over to Thunderbird. The Department of Defence for instance, have already switched over 70,000 users over to Thunderbird.
On the server-side OBM, an Open Source collaboration software, will be used. While I have to admit that I had never heard of OBM prior to reading the article, the website claims that they have been around for eight years. Behind the scenes, OBM is using a variety of Open Source components, such as Cyrus and Postfix for email, and Funambol to provide SyncML support.
Behind the push to this new setup stands the company Linagora, a french Open Source consulting firm. The company has a successful track record of similar deals, as it has already deployed OBM for 110,000 users for the Department of the Interior.
