Tulip takes IP connectivity to rural and urban India

After the successful completion of Akshaya Project in Malappuram district of
Kerala, New Delhi-based Tulip IT Services (Tulip) is bullish on the
opportunities of various other state governments. After making the entire
district well IP network connected, Tulip is all set to take the responsibility
of seven more districts of Kerala.

Lt Col HS Bedi, MD of Tulip said, "The State Government of Kerala has
already announced that seven more districts will be IP network connected along
with full access of the Internet connectivity." He said that official talks
are already in process for similar projects with other state governments. By the
end of the current fiscal, they will get around 30 more projects to handle in
other states of the country. Another development, which is in process, is the
company's IP connectivity initiative for 130 cities across India - Tulip
Connect and Rural Connect. He remarked, "Tulip Connect will cater the
IPconnectivity for urban India while Rural Connect will focus on rural India. We
have already covered 40 cities. We will introduce this service by the end of
July 2005."

Bedi further added that, "We are looking for a substantial increase in
our reach. Presently, we have 35 branch offices covering the entire country but
by the end of the current fiscal, we will have 100 branch offices." In
terms of increase in manpower for the company, he said, "We will expand our
team from 600 employees to 750 employees."

Malappuram has a well-considered hybrid connectivity infrastructure up and
running through a mix of wireless technologies. The backbone redundancy will be
provided through fiber. 450 Akshaya Centers have already been established in the
district. These centers are connected in a LAN environment, which in turn, will
be connected to a network operating center (NOC). The NOC has direct
connectivity with the Internet backbone. The NOC infrastructure would ensure
browsing at no cost to users in the network. This would mean that the entire
district would be converted into 'a small wired office' seamlessly
inter-connected with linkages to three world-class purveyors of the technology.

"Our target is to open 1000 Akshaya centers to connect police stations,
banks, tele medicines. Railway booking can be done and various other services
can be availed from these centers. Another important aspect is computer
learning, which is taken up as most important by the Kerala IT mission,"
Bedi informed.

FAIZ ASKARI