All Set, and Raring to Go…

It’s rare to find a state that has the entire infrastructure to catapult it
into the limelight where IT is concerned. Surprise, surprise. There is one that
can boast of all those credentials required to make it the next IT hub. We are
talking about Kerala- a state that has embraced the benefits of IT so easily
that it can well be termed the most IT ready state. Infact, the facts and
figures speak for themselves. Not only does Kerala have the highest overall
telephone density (7/100 population) and the highest rural telephone density
(5.1/100 population), all of its 988 exchanges are digital, and are connected by
OFC to the National Internet Backbone. Besides, every single village panchayat
(1,468 in all) is within 3 kms of a digital exchange.

All 14 district headquarters and 63 Taluk headquarters are covered by this
seamless network - which is being further strengthened by the OFC backbones
being laid by Reliance, Bharti and Asianet. The above advantages, along with the
‘SEA-ME-WE-3’ and ‘SAFE’ submarine cable landings at Kochi with 15 Gbps
bandwidth, place Kerala in a unique position to serve bandwidth-intensive IT
industries.

Kerala: Wired for the Future 100% of Kerala’s 988 telephone exchanges are Digital  98% of Kerala’s telephone exchanges are connected by OFC to the National Internet Backbone (NIB) All 1468 village panchayats within 3 km of a Digital Telephone Exchange are connected to the NIB over OFC All 14 district HQs, 63 Taluk HQs covered  Reliance, Bharti, Asianet are laying their own OFC backbones which will further enhance communication services within Kerala Keralites Highest telephone density- 7 per 100 — India’s 2005 target Highest rural telephone density - 5.1 per 100 - India’s 2010 target 28% of country’s telephone waiting list by 3% of the population Highest literacy and socio-economic development indicators Kochi Gateway ‘SEA-ME-WE-3’ and ‘SAFE’ submarine cable landings 15 Gbps bandwidth supported  VSNL’s primary international gateway in India MoU signed by Govt. With BSNL and VSNL to work together Bottomline Information infrastructure (SII) in place to deploy smart G2cC, C2G, G2G, G2B, B2B, and B2C Applications.  High telecom penetration allows the full benefit (cost, access, quality) of the NIB and Kochi Gateway to be leveraged by industry, Govt, Panchayats, citizens, and academic institutions Kerala with its unique social fabric and enabling communication infrastructure, is poised to evolve into an information enabled and powered state

Kochi is home to VSNL’s primary international gateway, which caters to well
over two-thirds of the nation’s data traffic. This already impressive
infrastructure will be further augmented through a co-ordinated effort between
the Government of Kerala, BSNL and VSNL - parties to a tri-partite MoU that will
leapfrog the state to the forefront with assured response, ‘quality of service’
and accountability for communication delivery.

And the result will be an unparalleled state of readiness to cater to smart
G2C, C2G, G2G, G2B, G2N, B2B and B2C applications... and significant cost
savings for bandwidth customers tapping the Kochi gateway. Equally important,
this enabling infrastructure brings within its broad sweep, the state and local
governments, industry, citizens and academic institutions.

Thus, every aspect of life in Kerala is touched by the knowledge industry in
all its forms - making it, indeed, the most IT-ready state in the country today.
What’s more, you have an enviable talent pool to draw from, a track record in
the IT industry of being a land of trouble free labor and business opportunities
that open up world class ITeS (BPO, CIC, Animation) operations.

And that’s not all. The country’s most progressive IT/ITeS Industry
Policy has just been announced. A step that will seal Kerala’s position as the
crucible of new-age IT.

Sreekumar R In Trivandrum