IBM today unveiled Government Industry Framework (GIF), designed to address persistent challenges that Governments face.

The IBM-GIF is a unified software platform for implementing comprehensive solutions focused on improving citizen services, increasing transparency, enhancing public safety, crime prevention, managing law enforcement, disaster management, security threats, exploding urban and IT infrastructure, effective traffic management and tax and revenue management.

The framework follows a unified approach to accelerate the deployment of solutions to build a Smarter Government.

This approach is superior to the two traditional practices: custom development, which is lengthy and expensive, and packaged applications that are inflexible, standalone and requires heavy customization, IBM said in a statement here.

The framework enables customers to choose from a variety of industry solutions that are pre-integrated on common middleware and industry-specific extensions. As a result, customers can deploy solutions in their current environment faster and at lower cost without compromising on flexibility and choice.

Dr. Ponani Gopalakrishnan, Vice President, IBM India Software Lab said "Governments across the globe are pursing collaborative networking and technology innovation to protect and connect citizens, increase information sharing and speed communications -- ultimately, leading to smarter decision making. With GIF,IBM continues to be a pioneer in transforming governments through technologies and solutions that enable smarter government and help build a smarter planet.