C-DAC to leverage ACTS for e-governance

Geeta Nair in Pune

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) is going to tap the network of its Advanced Computing Training School (ACTS) to front-end its e-governance solutions. ACTS, C-DAC’s advanced IT education arm, has 105 centres across the country. Dr R K Arora, executive director, C-DAC, said not only will they act as the marketing front-end but they will also be involved in software development and customisation at the local level.

“This will help expand the reach of our e-governance products and services in regional areas with whatever levels of customisation required in a cost-effective manner,” Dr Arora said. The ACTS is into its ninth yar of operation.

“We have created a large training infrastructure all over the country. They have the software development capability and we want to integrate these skills and infrastructure into our development process and optimise our resources,” Arora said. Instead of recruiting more people at C-DAC, ACTS centres could complement the efforts, he added.

C-DAC is going to sign a revenue sharing agreement ACTS. State government and local self government bodies would be the customer segment that C-DAC is looking at to tap for its e-governance projects.

A list of 45 ACTS centres with good computing infrastructure has been drawn up for the initiative. “Although IT education is going through a tough phase, none of our centres have closed down and are doing well even in adverse times and this additional business would mean another source of revenue for them,” Arora said.

A two-day road show on C-DAC’s e-governance projects is on in Pune for ACT’s representatives. C-DAC has its main business development groups in Pune, Bangalore with smaller groups in Hyderabad and Delhi and a presence in Trivandrum, Calcutta and Chennai. The e-governance group contributes around 15 to 20 per cent of C-DAC’s turnover with a team of 120 people. C-DAC is looking at a total turnover of Rs 100 crore this year.