Ujj Nath MET79 @ 06:38 AM
Overview:

This is the biggest project which is being conceived by the alumni organization.  The aim of this project is to create a network in the hostels which meets the current needs of the students as well has the necessary components to handle future requirements. Currently the cheapest desktops in India come at a price of around Rs 23,000 ( roughly $ 500/-) and the cheapest laptops come at a cost of around Rs 38,000 (roughly $ 830/-). We are sure that the laptop prices will come down further and in future the faculty as well as students would start using laptops.

Project Goals

• To provide Wifi – 802.11g access with Internet Connectivity to the ITBHU hostels.  We are initially shooting for 4 Mbps internet connectivity to be shared by the 10 hostels.

•  Allow students to browse the net etc. from the comfort of their dorm/hostel rooms.

•  To be completed by  March 2005.

Brief approach:

• Wire all the hostel rooms using CAT5 / CAT3 cables.

• Provide wireless access points in this network so that students can use there computers anywhere they want in and around their hostels

• Extend the wireless network to places usually frequented by the students eg. IT Gymkhana, Limbdi Corner etc.
  

• Provide internet connectivity to these places by tying up with an ISP.
  

    Detailed network design is yet to be done.

Situational Analysis: 

•  Upside: The current upside with this project is immense. During my trip to the ITBHU campus (Mid Sept) the students that I polled have been waiting for this with bated breath and have given up on when the institute will provide this connectivity.  On hearing about this initiative, the students felt that if the Alumni took this initiative seriously, they would see the internet in the hostels sooner than later. We already have a group of enthusiastic students at the institute who are willing to coordinate these activities.

• Downside: Obviously dealing with multiple volunteers and theri inertia would be the biggest challenge for a project like this.

• Champions: The good news is that we have champions inside of ITBHU.  Dr. RamchandraRao who is the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Lele the Director and a somewhat unrelated but very enthusiastic Smita Chaudhari who is the Chief Financial Officer for BHU.  When I met with Dr. Rao, Dr. Lele and Ms. Chaudhari, we had a very enthusiastic reception and they all committed their support in whatever manner possible.

What still needs to be done:

Here are the steps left in the project along with  current milestones.

• Get rough budget:  We are currently contacting various organizations like Reliance Infocom, HCL-Comnet and other firms to see if we can get a budgetary estimate of how much such a project will take. If you know people who are working in companies in this area, please send an email to the coordinators of this project.

•  Raise money: We will then have to raise the money needed not only for the infrastructure contract, but also for the maintenance and support fees for two years as we have to assume that the institute will implement its backbone in phase probably completing all of the work by 2007.

  If the university surprises us by implementing the backbone earlier then we can use the money saved for some other alumni funded project.

•  Release Request for Proposal (RFP) and select Vendor:  We hope to then issue the RFP to companies like HCL- Comnet, Reliance Infocom (BroadBand group), SIFY etc to see who is the most competitive and competent.

• Get BHU buy-in:  During this phase we will get the commitment (once again) of the VC and Director that they will help us in providing Wireless Access to IT-BHU hostels.

•  Implement Project:  During this phase we will appoint some local coordinators that will work with the vendor of choice to get this project implemented.

What we need from the Alumni:

• We need a group of technical volunteers who can be on the team and help design/ratify the network design.

•  We need all of you to contribute whole heartedly.

Budget:

This section will be filled out and updated once we have a budgetary estimate, and will be refined after we select a vendor

Status:

This section will be used to give project status to Alumni.

S.No	Milestone	Target Date	Completed On	Present Status	Accountable Person	Remarks
1	Budgetrary Estimate	Nov 1st., 2004		Waiting on information from Krishna Singh of Tulipit.com, SP Shukla of Reliance Infocom, Sanjay Nikore of HCL-Comnet	Ujj Nath	Pramod Joshi is also coordinating with Sanjay Nikore who is the COO of HCL - Comnet and Ujj and Anshuman Singh are coordinating with SP Shukla who runs Reliance Infocom
2	Constitute RFP committee	Oct 25th, 2004		Not Started	Animesh Pathak/Anshuman Singh
3	Select Vendors	Nov 8th, 2004		Not Started	RFP Committee
4	Write RFP	Nov 15th,2004		Not Started
5	Send RFPs	Nov 17th,2004		Not Started
6	Vendor Q&A	Nov 25th,2004		Not Started
7	FP due	Dec 17th,2004		Not Started
8	Select Vendor	Dec 29th,2004		Not Started
9	Get BHU Administrative buy-in	Jan 3rd, 2005		Not Started
10	Define Implementation Plan	Jan 17th,2005		Not Started		Get ratification from the RFP Committee

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