M A I N   N E W S

Data Superhighway
Cabinet okays linking up of knowledge institutions
Tribune News Service

n The National Knowledge Network would encourage sharing of knowledge, specialised resources and collaborative research. n The participating institutions can connect to the network at speeds of 1 Gbps. n It will enable scientists, researchers and students from across the country to work for advancing human development in critical and emerging areas

New Delhi, March 25
The government today approved the establishment of the National Knowledge Network (NKN) with an outlay of Rs 5990 crore to be implemented by NIC over a period of 10 years. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here today.

Setting up the network was an important recommendation of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) which suggested inter-connectivity of all knowledge institutions through high-speed data communication network.

This would encourage sharing of knowledge, specialised resources and collaborative research. The decision to set up such a network was announced by the Finance Minister in the Budget of 2008-09. An initial amount of Rs 100 crore for FY 2008-09 was allocated to the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT for establishing the NKN. A high-level committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Dr R.Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, to coordinate and monitor its establishment.

The network will be scalable and the network will consist of an ultra-high speed core (multiples of 10 Gbps and upwards). The core shall be complemented with a distribution layer at appropriate speeds. The participating institutions can connect to the network at speeds of 1 Gbps or to the distribution layer through a last-mile connectivity bandwidth. The network will provide nation-wide ultra high-speed backbone/data-network highway.

Various other networks in the country can take advantage of this with national and international reach to create independent and closed user groups. NKN will have about 25 core Point of Presence (PoPs) and 600 secondary PoPs. It will connect around 1500 institutions. The Physical Infrastructure (setting up of core network) is expected to be completed in a span of 24 months.

It will enable scientists, researchers and students from across the country to work for advancing human development in critical and emerging areas.