Service

Technical Services

10. January 2022 / Comments

1.    Internet Bandwidth and Leased Line Services

Under the Strategy for Rationalisation of IT services across Government MDAs, NITA-U providing is currently providing bulk Internet Bandwidth to Government through the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure (NBI).

The overall objective of the bulk purchase of internet bandwidth by NITA – U is to:

  (i) Reduce the cost of internet bandwidth through the economies of scale realised through the bulk purchase of bandwidth.

 (ii) Enable NITA – U rollout e-Government services like (online education, and health etc.) that are dependent on the accessibility of high speed internet services

 (iii) Connect MDAs and Special Interest Groups onto the NBI/EGI for delivery of internet services

 (iv) Promote the BPO industry across the country through the delivery of cheap internet bandwidth in all the towns that will be covered by the NBI.

The provision of Internet to MDAs through the backbone commenced in FY2013/14 and at the time, the market price for One (1) Megabits per second (Mbps) of Internet Bandwidth per month was on average USD 700.

However, the provision of Bulk Internet through the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) has seen the reduction of Internet bandwidth cost from $190Mbps per month $70 per Mbps to  as provided in table 1 below.

NITA – U currently offers one of the lowest prices for Internet and intends to reduce this cost further which will in turn lower the Bandwidth prices across the country.

In addition to that, NITA-U is providing Leased line services (Dedicated data links) at USD 150 which is still within the average the market rates. NITA-U through one of its partners Soliton Telmac offers a 24*7 monitoring and fist line support NOC (Network Operating Centre).

2.    Hosting and Co-location in National Data Centre

The National Data Centre is fully equipped with state of the art technology and the functionalities provided in table 1 below.

Table 1: Data Centre Functionalities

 Hi-Tech Security
  • Multiple layers of hardened physical security.
  • Closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance
  • Instant SMS Alerts to predefined personnel
  • Biometric access and code protected entry
  • Access to data center only by designated and authorized staff
  • Fire proof door

Fully Redundant, Data Grade Power and Air Conditioning
  • Direct AC power 220 - 240V (UMEME)
  • Two generators one with 200KVA backup and other 250KVA back up with 2-day fuel
  • Three UPS systems
  • Fully redundant precision controlled air condition environment

NITA-U Data Centre Managed Services
  • Monitoring of Virtualized infrastructure to host production site for applications and databases
  • Provision of required infrastructure to host production site such as CPU, RAM and storage.
  • Provision of required platform to host production sites and DR sites.

Dedicated Infrastructure
  • Dedicated Virtual Servers with required specifications
  • Dedicated Virtualized storage system for customer Data.
  • Dedicated platform for customer requirements.

One of the key intervention under the Strategy for Rationalisation of IT Services across MDAs is the provision of centralised Data Centre hosting and Disaster Recovery Services.

Currently NITA-U is providing Data Centre services (Platform As A Service(PAAS), Infrastructure As A Service(IAAS),Software As A Service(SAAS), Disaster Recovery As A Service and Backup AS A Service(BAAS)).

Costing for Data Centre Services is calculated based on several factors such as cost of power for the equipment, cost of cooling, vendor support, licensing and other administrative costs.  Prices vary based on user requirements.