In 1977 the Piedmont Region, the Polytechnic of Turin and the University of Turin establish the “Piedmontese consortium for the automatic treatment of information - CSI”. The objective is to modernize public administration by creating a unified regional informatic system.
Today CSI is a technological partner for over 100 public institutions and is one of the main leaders in the digital transformation of Italy. We’re proud to say that the idea that gave us birth more than 40 years ago is still present, healthy and inspires our work every day.
Trace the history of CSI through the photos from the exhibition for our 40th anniversary
The origins
The first agenda of the Regional Council with which the Region and the University come together to build a regional centre for information processing dates back to 1972. This is the groundwork for the 1975 law "Consortium constitution" and the following development plan. In 1978 the “Poveri Vecchi” building is renovated in a few months to become the Consortium headquarters.
The early years
At the end of 1978, the first year of actual activity, 40 people are working at CSI, with a 2 billion lire budget. The computer centre works on three shifts for 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. Initial hardware is made up by the DEC 10 system, taken over by FIAT, the University's IBM 370/158 system and the Politecnico's IBM/125 system.
At work
The first activities concern the management of all the workforce of the Piedmont Region, of its hospitals and universities: in 1979 CSI develops automated salaries for 28 thousand public employees. In 1985 the AI Laboratory is founded, then the Informatic Laboratory for advanced Statistics, which will go on to realize the first Data Warehouse for institutions and Business Intelligence applications
Informatics innovate public administration
In 1987, CSI develops the Piedmontese Telematic Network project, the first regional public network. In 1992 the information system of the Province of Turin was the most advanced in Italy, with 200 workstations.
Evolving infrastructure
In 1991 the supercomputer CRAY is installed in CSI, making Turin one of the few supercomputing centres in Italy. The 90s are marked by large Enterprise infrastructures. In the 2000s resources are optimized, by hosting various virtual systems on a single physical server. After 2010 we started experimenting with cloud, which quickly led us to develop a cloud offer specific for public administrations. In 2018 AgID qualifies us as a certified Cloud Service Provider.
An increasingly connected world
In the 2000s, our participation in national and international projects allows us to widen our activities and work outside our national boundaries. We’re partners in Piedmont for the WI-PIE project, that creates a broadband infrastructure across all the Piedmontese territory, connecting public administrations and citizens and effectively battling the digital divide.
Ongoing innovation
Today we are at the center of an important digital transformation process, which involves all our customers. We are at their side, with our experience and our commitment, to create services that respond quickly and easily to people's needs. We have a long history behind us, but we never stop imagining the future.