December 23, 2010

Xabier Sabalza, director of Innovation and Information Society of the Basque Government, is president of METAPOSTA, S. A. which at this time is putting the final touches to the public launching of its application, created in order to promote the Information Society Plan 2015 for the creation of a Internet-based strongbox and letterbox

Question. What is the current status of the METAPOSTA launch?

Answer. Operational tests on the infrastructures of EJIE are being conducted at this time (servers, storage systems, registration of the application and the integration and communications of sender institutions and companies, also known as senders). At the same time, application tests have begun with a number of selected users (betatesters), about 150 people, in order to check the application before the general public begins to use it.

Q. Are these betatesters working with any of the senders? Which institutions and businesses are currently taking part in METAPOSTA?

A. The senders that are most fully integrated in the system at this time are banking entities, such as BBK, Kutxa and Caja Vital, as well as Ipar Kutxa and Caja Laboral . Also Bankoa and Lagun Aro. Moreover, water and power suppliers and insurance companies have also joined the system. In total, there are about 15 companies at different stages of integration at this time.

Q. METAPOSTA is presented as a project promoted by the Industry Department of the Basque Government to foster the Information Society, but it also has private investors. Who is behind METAPOSTA?

A. When the company METAPOSTA was set up, it was based on the participative model of public and private companies that characterises E-boks (the model on which METAPOSTA is based) in Denmark: On the one hand, they must be representative entities of the public administration and the private sector, because METAPOSTA's activities are aimed at both. Also, the composition of the Board of Directors must be neutral as far as possible so that external agents will trust those who have a share of its capital. This can be seen in the list of shareholders: on the one hand, the Fondo Ezten (Gestión de capital riesgo del País Vasco, S. A.), which depends on the Department of Industry, Innovation, Tourism and Commerce of the Basque Government; then EJIE, the Computer Company of the Basque Government, which represents the Department of Justice and Public Administration. In order to secure the maximum level of representation of the business and economic world of the Basque Country, there are the Chambers of Commerce of Bilbao (Bizkaia), Gipuzkoa and Araba; and then there are businesses from the technology and services sectors, which are major players in the Basque economy: the technology corporation, Tecnalia, a reference model in its field in the Basque Country, Mondragón Inversiones, representative of the largest Basque business group and Gupost, a company representative of the fourth sector, created by the Gureak group which is fostering the integration of disabled persons.

Q. METAPOSTA was created initially within the Basque Information Society Plan, but what will its area of activity be in the future?

A. Firstly, the technology used in this system and the Internet mean that METAPOSTA is accessible outside the Basque country. In other words, METAPOSTA is accessible from anywhere in the world that has a telephone connection or the Internet. But it should also be pointed out that several senders in the METAPOSTA system, which belong to the banking sector, services or energy, operate throughout the Spanish state They themselves demand that METAPOSTA transcend the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. And, on the other hand, the Basque Government has proposed that METAPOSTA collaborate with other institutions in promoting the Information Society.

Q. What is METAPOSTA's place within the framework of the Spanish state and of the European Union?

A. Today, there are three models of Internet services in the environment in which METAPOSTA is pursuing its activities. On the one hand, there are the citizens portals of the public administration such as norge.no in Norway and mon.service-public.fr, in France. Another example are the digitisation systems of postal companies used to manage their services. And lastly, the Internet strongbox models, including E-boks of Denmark, which offers services in the public and private sector. METAPOSTA is based on this model.

Q. What are the virtues of METAPOSTA compared with its potential competitors?

A. In view of the fact that METAPOSTA came about as a result of a public initiative with private support, the strict compliance with European, state and Basque community legislation is essential in the information society and digital administration. This requires that the METAPOSTA operating system be very strict from the legal viewpoint and this is what sets it apart from other commercial services. Moreover, in the Basque Autonomous Community, the intention is to encourage the public to learn to handle the recognised electronic signature certificate, the electronic notification and other electronic means.