Red Hat today announced it is a founding member of Open Source for America. Launched today, Open Source for America’s mission is to serve as an effective voice to the U.S. Federal Government on behalf of the open source development community and industry representatives.

The Obama Administration has articulated its interest in developing an open, transparent and participatory government from its very first days in office. The formation of Open Source for America is a step in the right direction to advocate and promote the benefits of open source and help achieve a truly effective and efficient government.

Open source provides an answer to government agencies at all levels as they look for opportunities to carve out IT costs, improve security and increase efficiency. Government agencies are using Red Hat’s open source solutions to meet mission-critical IT demands and improve service delivery. Take a look here at the many government entities in not only the United States, but across the globe who rely on Red Hat.

At Red Hat, we’ve been leading the charge for years for open source in the government sector.

More than 60 companies, academic institutions, open source communities, think tanks and related groups and individuals have joined with Red Hat in promoting open source in government through Open Source for America. Participation is open to any person or entity signing Open Source for America’s mission pledge. I offer a challenge to all advocates of open source to join Open Source for America today and continue to build on this unprecedented opportunity to change our government.