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VSAT services for colleges

I read the article 'Connectivity the VSAT way' in a past issue of Network Magazine, by Soutiman Das Gupta. It was very interesting and informative.

I offer Internet over cable services in the city of Hyderabad. Recently, representatives of around 10 colleges in various parts of Andhra Pradesh have got in touch with me. They want to use Internet access services with the help of VSAT links.

In that regard I would like to enquire about the cost of VSAT equipment and bandwidth. What are the various licenses I have to obtain in order to provide the services, and what will be the license fees?

Regards

Srinivas

Dear Srinivas,

Thank you for writing to us. We are glad that you have found the article interesting and informative.

There are various VSAT service providers in India. Some of them are Comsat Max, HCL Comnet, and Hughes Network Systems India Ltd. You can get in touch with them for the current subscription rates. They will also be able to tell you about the necessary equipment, licenses, and formalities necessary to offer the service to others.

Emerson's story

The article on Emerson Network Power (India) Private Limited, written by Brian Pereira, which dealt with materials management, called 'MIN-cing material costs' in the April 2004 issue of Network Magazine was very informative and interesting.

After reading the article, it seems that the solution is similar to that of a Supply Chain Management (SCM) solution. And if that is so, why doesn't the company simply call it an SCM initiative?

Regards

Sunil Verma

Dear Sunil Verma,

Thank you for the words of appreciation for the article. We are glad that you have found the article interesting and informative.

An SCM solution essentially encompasses an enterprise within a regional or nationwide boundary, and helps the free flow of raw material and related business information from the various suppliers and the company in the various stages of manufacturing.

Emerson Network Power (India) Private Limited's Material Information Network (MIN) performs materials management on a global scale. All Emerson group companies around the world can use this platform for Reverse Auctions, to select the best available supplier and the rates before placing orders. This supplier delivers the required goods to the particular locations.

The MIN also has an added intelligent function called the Inflation Model. This is a predictive tool to help the business plan projects for procurement price improvements.

Such an initiative is unique to the organization and thus it prefers to call it MIN.

Is consolidation everything?

The case study article on VSNL's storage consolidation initiative, called 'Consolidation pays off at VSNL', by Anil Patrick R in the April 2004 issue of Network Magazine, was very well-written.

It seems that network storage systems are not very easy to manage, and there are a number of issues to be addressed. So is consolidation the best answer to most problems and issues regarding networked storage systems?

Regards

Prakash Gupta

Dear Prakash Gupta,

Thank you for the appreciation of the article.

Storage consolidation is an effective fix for any storage management-related problem, but there are more aspects to it, in order to make the solution more effective.

In VSNL's case the needs were to consolidate the information kept in multiple DAS devices, create the flexibility to handle failures, cut down costs of incremental storage, and have a high-speed data access mechanism. The company used a SAN and was able to address all the issues.

But all storage issues are not the same. And each organization will have needs unique to it. Consolidation helps to achieve better control over storage systems.

If an organization's storage systems are not very easy to manage, other than consolidation, the CIO can invest in updated hardware, a faster LAN, and a proven and tested storage management software platform.