Aman Singh, chief executive officer, Chhattisgarh Infotech and Biotech Promotion Society (CHiPS), a division of the Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology, Government of Chhattisgarh, said: "With SWAN, we will be able to connect our offices not just at the headquarters level, but right down to the local administration levels even in remote, inaccessible areas." 

CHiPS selected Nortel's WiMAX-based last-mile connectivity over competing WLAN solutions as the most cost-effective and simple to deploy high-performance solution available. "WiMAX is a proven technology for providing reliable communications and access across rough terrains and remote areas that are difficult to serve with conventional wireless or wireline technologies. We estimate we will save close to 30 percent over five years compared to a WLAN solution," says Singh. "WiMAX is also based on open standards, which is key to the government's e-governance vision to implement platforms that offer interoperability."

The new network will deliver high speed access to remote locations which currently lack any Internet connectivity. The solution for CGSWAN consists of Nortel's Communication Server 1000 (CS1000) for IP Telephony, Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 8600s, 5500s and 2500s, Business Access Points (BAP) 120 and Base Transceiver Station (BTS) 1060 and ProST from the WiMAX portfolio.