VSNL plans to start webfarms to make website hosting easier

BANGALORE, September 1: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) has decided to

start a webfarm in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore with a number of servers

which will be leased out to customers, to make Web site hosting easier on

the Internet in India.

``The proposal is before the board of VSNL and when passed, it will

bring down costs dramatically for customers to about one-tenth of the

current rates,'' said VSNL Chairman and Managing Director Amitabh Kumar.

In addition to the Webfarm, VSNL is encouraging sharing of bandwidth among

corporate users in the country. ``This will bring down costs for the users

and provide them the required bandwidth,'' Mr. Kumar said. ``We are also

considering giving educational institutions in the country further

discounts on the shared lines,'' he added.

He also informed that VSNL has introduced shared subscriber services

with special discounts to enable the software technology parks of India

located in various places to avail of high speed communication links.

Referring to the Internet backbone infrastructure in the country, he said

only 50 per cent of the 165 MBPS of bandwidth available now is being

utilized during peak hours. However, VSNL plans to add 32 MBPS in a months

time and 24 MBPS bandwidth in one month after that. ``The number of

Internet subscribers in the country will go up to one million in the next

three months,'' Mr. Kumar said.