CMC has received an advance purchase order from state owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) to supply and commission 1200 Thin Clients and 100 Ethernet Switches. The thin clients will replace dumb terminals at MTNL.
The project worth Rs 2.8 crore has to be completed in three months, once MTNL issues the work order.
In a joint survey, CMC and MTNL identified 90 locations across Mumbai and Navi Mumbai for installation of thin clients and Ethernet switches. Areas that require new cabling, power points and other infrastructure were also located.
The previous terminals at MTNL are VXL, Wipro and HCL make. At present, there are 1800 terminals that are dumb and are connected to 16 port LAN terminal Server (LTS) via RS232 serial links. An Edge Router is connected in a LAN through an Ethernet Hub at that location, and the WAN side of it is connected to an Area Router on 128kbps high-speed serial link.
The Thin Clients will deliver Java, browser-based, X 11, text, or Graphics (GUI) based applications to users throughout MTNL, in a manner that would enable it to retain network centric computing, eliminate issues related to security, manageability, reliability, and cost. It will also enable MTNL execute legacy text-based applications using terminal emulations. Thin Clients technology will be modular by design, allowing the ability to add or remove features for improved performance and cost advantages. It will have compact chassis and will be bundled with centralized management tool.
Arvind Kumar, account manager at CMC informed, "We will install VXL Linux and XP based thin clients. These will serve as a front end for billing purpose and also, increase efficiency of the Fault Reporting System (FRS). We will also install the UTP."
CMC will also install a HP server (inter level) for thin client management.
Sanjay Khare, deputy general manager, IT at MTNL, said that MTNL's current infrastructure comprises dumb terminals that do not have the capacity to display graphics. "We were looking at including GUI based applications for more freedom on application sides. Work order to CMC will be issued within a fortnight," he stated.
He said that CMC would be responsible for complete technical and maintenance support during these six years including the warranty period.
FRS, in present form, consists of various character based (non GUI) forms, developed using Oracle Forms6i (in character mode) as front-end (on Application Server), PL/SQL/Pro-C character based (non GUI) reports (on Application Server) and Oracle 9i database as back-end (Database Server). The whole application runs in proprietary Unix environment. The OS platform for Database Server is AIX 5.1 and for Application Server is TRU64 4F/ HP-UX 11i. The FRS is in-house developed application.
