GIDC (Government Integrated Data Center)
Introduction
The success of e-governance initiatives depends a great deal on sound ICT infrastructure. Therefore, due emphasis ought to be given on the development of e-government infrastructure in the country. Infrastructure needs to be built up for all aspects of e-governance, be it delivery of services by government or access of services by citizens or even for backend automation at government departments. Also, the government should ensure a coordinated development of infrastructure in various parts of the nation to avoid another divide between the ICT enabled and the non-enabled.
- A data center is a centralized location for the storage, management, processing and exchange of data that exists within a specific enterprise or a specialized facility.
- In general, data centers can be broken down into three types- Internet Data center (IDC), Storage area network (SAN) and Enterprise data center(EDC).
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An Internet data center (IDC) is a facility that provides data and Internet services for other companies
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A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a network of interconnected storage devices and data servers usually located within an enterprise data center or as an off-site facility offering leased storage space.
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An Enterprise data center (EDC) is the central processing facility for an enterprise’s computer network
Presently we are on first phase of Data Center, an Internet data center (IDC).
Importance of GIDC
In the era of e-governance, government is expected to deliver its services to the citizens on 24*7 basis. To achieve this, the government has to set up a sound and stable infrastructure operational round the clock. Internet Data Centre is a facility which provides extremely reliable and secure infrastructure for running Internet operations on a 24*7 basis. It shall not at all be cost effective if each department starts setting up its own data centre as running a high class Internet Data Centre needs a lot of recurring resources. It is, therefore, suggested that the government may set up a high grade Data Centre at a National level to be used by all entities of the government. All departments should, in turn, establish high speed connectivity with the data centre so that they can manage their applications from their own premises in a secured manner.
In cases where the country is large and the government feels that one Internet Data Centre may not suffice, it could decide to set up multiple Data Centers. However, the number of data centers should be optimized to the extent possible primarily due to the high recurring operative costs as well as scarcity of skilled resources. It is suggested that the decision to set up a data centre should be driven by demand and not by political or geographical boundaries within the country. As the pace of e-government picks up nationwide, besides delivery of services, Government may also have to set up data centers to share the large scale/special purpose resources for development of the systems.
Besides providing computing and storage resources on demand, another important aspect/role of Data Centre is to provide data protection. Therefore, Data Centers need to have strong state-of-the-art backup and recovery and vaulting solutions in place. The data digitized and gathered by the government in the process of governance is very valuable and the government can not afford to lose this data at any cost, even due to natural disasters. Hence, the government has to consider setting up a Disaster Recovery Centre in a geographically different location, preferably in a different seismic zone. Incase a government has multiple data centers; they can be connected to act as a back-up for each other.
Features of GIDC
- High End Computing Infrastructure
- Storage Area Network (SAN)
- High Speed Local Area Network
- Multi-Tier Security
- High Speed Internet Connectivity
- 24*7*365 Help Desk
- Multi level redundant power back-up
- Air Conditioning Management
- Fire Detection & Control System
