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Unit 5: Market Positioning

the requirements of the Government in the convergence era handling voice, data and Notes
video communication.
The State Government had enlisted the services of consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers
to assist it to develop an integrated IT architecture as also draw up a security infrastructure
for various e-governance applications cutting across departments in the State. Following
this initiative, the State had identified several projects for development and these are
gradually being integrated.
Since each of the projects has been developed independently, the Government has drawn
up a blueprint that is aimed at facilitating an integrated development of the entire IT&C
backbone and infrastructure in the State.
The State Government had initiated and conducted a research on various aspects of
e-governance over the last few years through implementation of a few pilot projects and
through external consultancies. The concepts and models developed in the process have
been mapped. Following this, a big picture has been charted out. This picture incorporates
core e-governance applications, data centre, group applications; delivery channels while
covering various State verticals as also integrated security architecture.
To support the Government initiatives and to provide an enabling environment, the
Government recently announced an integrated ICT Policy for the year 2002-2005, the first
by a State in the county to initiate such a policy framework, which builds on the earlier IT
policy.

According to the Principal Secretary, IT&C, J. Satayanarayana, this new network and
blueprint drawn up by the State is aimed at providing an integrated backbone for all the
State Government agencies. The State Government is in the process of implementing
various e-governance projects and plans to reach out host of citizen centric services even
up to the village level.
Though initially these services will be reached out up to all the 1,100 mandals (blocks)
across the State, it is proposed to deploy up to village in a phased manner. With such
ambitious plans, the Government is looking at this telecom backbone to serve the needs
of all the diverse departments in the State.
The proposed broadband connectivity will link up the offices right from the seat of State
administration — the State Secretariat down to the district level initially and to the village
level gradually. This is expected to complement the existing Andhra Pradesh State Wide
Area Network (APSWAN), which is used by the Chief Minister and the State Cabinet
colleagues to host video conferencing facility with district collectorates.
This new network and the integrated grid is targeted at translating the State vision of
providing swift and wide access of Government services across the State spreading to
even the remotest parts. While this new network will provide the infrastructure, the
integrated citizen services centers — e-Seva is now programmed to be deployed in other
parts of the State.

Several of the e-governance applications, such as the Online Transactions Processing System
(OLTP), e-procurement, which is being handled by Commerce One, AP Portal (handled by
TCS) and social benefits management system, have been identified as core applications by
the State Government. Since these projects involve huge IT spend, the Government is
roping in strategic partners under the PPP (public private partnership) model,
Satayanarayana maintained.
The ICT Department has estimated that over the next three four years, various State
Government’s IT&C applications will involve a total outlay of about ` 2,000 crore, offering
Contd...

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