CHENNAI, INDIA: Software Technology Parks of India is setting up two more datacenters for commercial purposes especially for SMEs. These would be established at the cost of Rs 30 crore each in Delhi and Hyderabad.

Dr. Omkar Rai, Senior Director, STPI, said it has identified place in Delhi. "For the purpose we have identified 4000 sq. ft place in Delhi and with the joint venture of MTNL, STPI is setting up the data center to use purely for commercial purpose."

He further said such centers would be established in all state capitals. At present, Chennai datacentre is being utilized by TATA Consultancy Services for its disaster recovery management purposes. TCS began using this from August 15 of this year and the pact is for for a period of seven year. From this contract with TCS, it would fetch Rs 3 crore annually, said Rai. According to him datacentre is the future.

He also said STPI is likely to set up another datacenter in Chandigarh in the second phase after completing the two in Delhi and Hyderabad.

He further said these centers are meant for the purpose of SMEs. "We have given our recommendations on encouraging the public private partnership in e-governance activities," said Rai.

He shared that the IT and ITES export and STPI contributions and its future directions have positioned India as a leader in digital infrastructure.

Addressing the session on e-government initiatives, P W C Davidar, Secretary of Information Technology, Government of Tamil Nadu, said that one has two options for developing digital infrastructure across the state.

He said that as a first choice the government can declare the departments to develop an e-application system that would address the present needs. While on the other hand, the government can take initiatives to develop ecosystems that generate citizen-centric services, he added.

He also shared the success in implementation of digital infrastructure services in 33 secondary care hospitals in Tamil Nadu. Another 270 hospitals are to be connected in this network.

Davidar said a team of 25 is working to to make connect all the employment exchanges and it would very soon authenticate certificates claims submitted by the employment seekers.

He said that Tamil Nadu is one of the first states in India to set up training centers to educate people on digital convergence. Davidar also mentioned the new initiative of the help desk being created to address queries from different units across the world.