TÜBİTAK The importance of PostgreSQL, an open-source software, was discussed at an event organized by Bilgem.
The event, hosted by the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, was attended by Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, Cemil Sağıroğlu, Director of TÜBİTAK Bilgem Software Institute, students, and numerous sector representatives.
Deputy Minister Sayan touched upon the importance of data today in his speech at the opening of the program. Stating that the internet is fundamentally a medium that involves data production and sharing, Sayan described data as the "New oil" and added: "Especially with the increase in mobile internet usage, there has been a significant rise in the amount and type of data shared by users. These produced data, spanning a wide range from people's health information to their zodiac signs, can be used for many different purposes such as better understanding users, developing new services and products, and forming marketing strategies. However, realizing this mentioned potential depends on four main components. These four basic components are: storing the data, associating the data, making sense of the data, and querying the data. In other words, it is the creation of 'Data Fusion'."
Deputy Minister Sayan: Software is the Sector Where We Have the Greatest Sensitivity to Localization
Stating that there is a need for database technologies like PostgreSQL that offer reliability and high system performance, Sayan said, "PostgreSQL presents us with a great opportunity to catch up in this field in these days when we are intensely talking about open source. PostgreSQL, with its PosGIS component, enables the storage, processing, and analysis of spatial data in the field of Geographic Information Systems, and with its MADLib component, analytical functions are used in the field of Data Science. Until now, as a country, we have mostly met our needs for storing, querying, and updating data by importing closed-source commercial database systems. We have an important opportunity to adapt open-source databases like PostgreSQL to our country and create national and reliable data technologies with the power of our software engineers and academics."
Emphasizing that the main strategy of the 2023 vision outlined by our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is domestic and national production, Sayan said, "To produce domestically and nationally, to catch up with world standards in every field, surpass them, and in the final stage, to set standards. This should be our story. We express this on every platform and will continue to do so. Especially software is one of the sectors where we have the greatest sensitivity to localization. Two days ago, WhatsApp, which is praised by millions of users, left its users facing a problem, many of you may have noticed this. As the Ministry and BTK, we conducted the necessary studies and determined that the problem was worldwide. This kind of issue once again shows why we insist so much on spreading domestic and national everywhere."
Deputy Minister Sayan: Supporting Software is of Vital Importance
Drawing attention to the need for expert staff alongside the database technologies we will develop based on our national needs, Sayan said, "These teams should continuously follow their commercial competitors and the sector, be able to make developments that offer the latest updates and techniques, and lead the technology. I always say that we have no shortcomings in this regard. Especially in terms of human resources, we are at an enviable point. As long as we bring our people together with the right guidance and opportunities. The words of our President, 'In the field of information and communication technologies, which is the most important power source of today, we are in the position of consumers, not producers. This situation makes us fragile in many aspects, starting with our national security,' never leave our minds. In line with this very rightful and important observation; it is revealed how correct what we have done is to base our works on domestic and national products, the bright minds that will develop them, that is, our own values. For a technology to sustain itself, an ecosystem that uses and owns it must be formed. In this context, it is of vital importance that the database technologies we develop are also used by our institutions/organizations and companies, and that necessary feedback is provided to support the software life cycle."
Deputy Minister Kacır: Open Source Technologies Hold an Important Place for Our Country
Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, also made a speech explaining the importance of open-source databases. Touching on the fact that PostgreSQL is seen by many authorities as the world's most advanced open-source database, Kacır said, "It is pleasing that there is great interest in this conference organized to increase its awareness and adoption in our country. As the Ministry of Industry and Technology, we have focused our efforts on realizing the national technology move. Because we see this program as an indispensable framework for our country's development and achieving its goals. Our national technology move has two main objectives. The first is the development and production of high-tech products that are critically important for full independence, with national capabilities and originally. The second is the development of high technologies that will bring us forward economically in global competition. I think that open-source technologies hold an important place for our country in terms of serving both of these main objectives I mentioned."
Kacır said, "Open source is first and foremost an important instrument in reducing national security risks brought by external dependency in critical technological fields. Especially in strategic areas, potential risks such as data leaks and vulnerability to external intervention necessitate the use of open-source products instead of licensed products. When we consider that the importance of data and data security is increasing day by day, we can say that this need exists in every field. Therefore, I am of the opinion that open-source applications will be an important component of security systems, which are shown among the critical technologies of the coming period. The importance of the open-source orientation for us is that it provides the opportunity to meet the technology products we need in our country with our own resources. As you know, as a country, we are taking solid steps in digital transformation. With this development, our budget expenditures are also increasing. Therefore, it becomes more important to meet our needs with our own capabilities without bearing license cost burdens. We think that the open-source world is an important opportunity for our country in this respect."
BTK President Karagözoğlu: We Have Made Great Progress in Open-Source Technologies
BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu also began his speech by talking about the importance of data. Drawing attention to the increase in data usage especially with mobile internet usage, Karagözoğlu said, "There is a need for database technologies like PostgreSQL that offer reliability and high system performance.
At this point, I want to emphasize the keyword 'queryable'. As I mentioned before, for the produced data to gain meaning, this data needs to be made queryable. As an example scenario, all comments shared on the Reddit platform are published openly to everyone. However, when we want to filter comments containing certain words within a specific date range, the web platform falls short. Therefore, the accessible shares are not queryable. To make this data queryable, comments can be recorded in a database, relevant table relationships established, and then filtering applied at the desired level. At this point, the fast and intensive write-read capabilities offered by the PostgreSQL database enable the establishment of this structure. Because there are billions of comments and shares on platforms like Reddit and similar ones."
Touching also on the open-source infrastructures including PostgreSQL, Karagözoğlu said, "Open-source technologies are of great importance in terms of national and domestic technologies where our country has made great strides in recent years. Just like in other fields, in database technologies, national solutions can be produced by our engineers in line with our country's needs by using open-source applications. From this perspective, open-source technologies greatly contribute to the success of the domestic and national technology move. In addition, since these technologies positively contribute to our country's foreign trade balance and foreign exchange deficit items, they also play an important role in economic development. As a result, to utilize the data potential brought by technological developments and increasing internet connection opportunities, data needs to be put into a queryable format. Since open-source products like PostgreSQL and similar ones can respond agilely to rapidly changing data demands, they can keep up with the dynamic structure of the technology world."