thestoryofcdot–centrefordevelopmentoftelematics.ppt

The Story of CDOT – Centre For Development of Telematics 36 Months 36 Crores and a 5* Hotel  M. V. Pitke Background 1980: ?Government appoints Committee under chairmanship of Mr. Sarin (ex defence secretary) for setting up a factory for production of SPC controlled Electronic Telephone Exchanges. Production Capacity of half a million lines per year Digital switching in infancy Attracted attention of the groups in TIFR, TRC in Delhi and ?Wescom in USA Sam Pitroda keenly interested in India. His company was taken over by Rockwell, became a VP Scenario Telecom ?Exchanges: Electromechanical - Strowger and Crosssbar Only a few electronic (ESS) i.e. computer controlled analog. Serious problems, severe shortages of telephones, practically no automatic dialling Expensive and difficult to maintain Analog network architecture, partly digitized by PCM, limited facilities, only low speed data ( 2400bps) Very limited service to rural areas Archaic administration but very bright engineers! The Sarin Committee H C Sarin (former defence secretary) appointed in 1981 to study modernization of Indian Telecom Original plans for? factory half million lines of ESS electonic switching systems ( assumed to be analog) Announcement of Sarin Committee encouraged Pitroda to visit India more often Develop a circle of friends - politicians, press and academic Our intervention resulted in the selection of Digital Switching technology (still in infancy) for the ESS factory MNCs in India ATT, Alcatel, Ericsson, Siemens, NEC, and others Fortunately unlike computers there was no Russian switching technology! Alcatel was the most aggressive and negotiated a successful deal for a factory with E10B technology (83) Very heavy fees for technology transfer (300 Cr?) which largely goes unutilized Mismatch between product specs (designed for European urban traffic) and Indian requirements No concern for rural requirements Favourable developments The ideas of developing indigenous technolo