The Department of Information Technology has undertaken a mission to establish a State-of-the-Art Information Systems Network in the Secretariat of the Government of Kerala with a vision to improve the quality and availability of IT-enabled-Services at its administrative Head Quarters. This shall be on the basis of a comprehensive User Requirement Specifications (URS) prepared after taking into account the investments already made, emerging technologies, and the service levels required to meet future needs of the Government.

Secretariat Wide-Area-Network is the largest Campus-Area-Network (CAN) of the Government of Kerala in the State, consisting of more than 200 network equipments and 2000 network nodes inter-networked using optical fiber and copper cables.

This network facilitates the information-system services in the offices of the ministers and the heads of all the administrative departments of the Government of Kerala located within the Secretariat.

Desktop & Laptop Computers
The computing infrastructure in the Secretariat consists of more than two-thousand Desktop Computers procured in a period of ten years. A hundred Laptop Computers are also in use.

Local Application Servers
A range of computer servers, including a RS6000 RISC Server, hosts several software-applications of the Secretariat.

Network Infrastructure
The network infrastructure in the Secretariat consists of three segments:

• The Local-Area-Network (LAN) that includes network equipment like ethernet switches, ethernet cables, UTP patch-panels, network racks etc.; and nework nodes like Desktop Computers, Printers etc. inter-networked to each other within the CAN.
• The Wide Area Network (WAN) that includes network equipment like IP Routers, Ethernet Switches, RAS, NAS etc.; security devices like Firewall, Anti-Virus etc.; and network nodes like Servers inter-networked with the Internet and the Intranet.
• The Network Operating Centre (NOC) that includes Network Management Systems (NMS), management consoles for network operations, Core LAN Switching equipments, Branch WAN Routing equipments, Gateway Network Security equipments and Local Application Servers.

Network Topology

• LAN is based on ETHERNET, and laid out in a Core-Distribution-Access-WorkGroup multi-layer topology.
• The Core-to-Distribution Layer is linked over 1Gbps
• The Distribution-to-Access Layer is linked over 100Mbps
• The Access-to-Workgroup Layer is linked over 100Mbps
• WAN is routed in a multiple-device multiple-gateway non-load-balanced topology, and has access to the Internet, the Intranet and Extranets.

Network Services

Various services are facilitated in the Secretariat Wide Area Network.

• The EGRESS Services consist of:

  Data & Voice access to the Internet
  Data, Voice & Video access to the Intranet
  Data, Voice & Video access to the Extranets

• The INGRESS Services consist of:

  NATted Data access to the LAN
  ROUTEd Voice & Video access to the LAN

Uninterrupted Power Supply System
The Information System Infrastructure in the Secretariat is powered 24 x 7 by a modern Un-interrupted Power Supply system, consisting of redundant UPS equipments, AC generators and Power Grid supplies.

Technical Support
The Secretariat Wide Area Network is managed by a team of network-support-engineers and pc-maintenance-engineers of KELTRON coordinated by the Kerala State IT Mission.

Network-support-engineers operate on-site from the Secretariat Network Operating Centre (NOC) to manage network services and attend to technical issues of the network.

PC-maintenance-engineers also operate on-site from the Secretariat Computer Maintenance Centre to manage desktop services and attend to technical issues of computers and peripherals. A Help-Desk is being set up to monitor and record requests for technical-support.

Contacts
Kerala State IT Mission: Rajeevan Chaladan, Mission Co-ordinator
KELTRON: S.Jayakumar, Dy.General Manager
Network Operating Centre: Sheeba Suresh, Network Support Team - KELTRON. Secretariat PABX : 8817.
Computer Maintenance Centre: Bhadrakumar, PC Maintenance Team - KELTRON. Secretariat PABX : 8974.