InfoTower to be opened today

Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company Ltd. (GNFC) is set to comission the Rs 30-crore InfoTower here on Saturday in a strategic alliance with California-based TIW System Inc.

Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel will inaugurate the InfoTower on Saturday. The InfoTower, situated on the outskirts of the city on Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar Highway, will serve as a hub to support high-speed wide-spectrum information technology needs of Gujarat through satellite link.

GNFC has entered into the alliance with the $ 150-million Telecommunications International Wireless (TIW), a division of Vertex Satcom Systems, initially to set up the InfoTower on a turnkey project from designing and installation to commissioning and maintenance. The TIW-GNFC is a strategic alliance for mutual benefit with TIW providing the technology and GNFC the infrastructure.

TIW has virtual global monopoly in uplinking earth stations with inclined geo-stationary satellites for 'Flexidama' to meet scattered or rural Demand Assignment Multiple Access (DAMA), 'Flexiweb' for Internet connectivity and 'Flexilan for LAN-to-LAN.

GNFC managing director A M Bhardwaj said his company proposed to provide the IT network in the State at almost half the cost offered by others. The TIW- built earth station at InfoTower cost Rs 5 crore and subsequent ones, proposed to be set up at Gandhinagar and Broach, might cost still less.

he said the GNFC also proposed to ask for permission to be an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

He further said about one third of the InfoTower's 1.55 lakh square feet space had been sold off and the remaining would be sold off in four months' time.

Compiled from local news media