Galaxy Backbone Plc has been commended for the attainment of 80% success in the implementation of the NICEP project. The commendation was made by Chief Slyvester A. Anyanwu the Chairman Senate Committee on Communications during a facility tour of the NICEP Network Operating Centre (NOC) in Abuja built and managed by Galaxy Backbone Plc.

 

Senate Committee Chairman was at the facility to inspect the progress made so far in the implementation of the project and find out ways his committee could assist Galaxy towards delivering the NICEP project objectives as envisaged by the Federal Government ICT intervention policy. Senator Anyanwu was conducted round the state of the art facility by Gerald Ilukwe, Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone and Dauda Oyeleye, the Galaxy Backbone Network Operations Manager.

 

During the facility tour, Senator Anyanwu who is also an IT expert was shown the array of top of the breed IT equipment installed at Galaxy’s Network Operating Centre as part of the NICEP network. The team also visited inspected the company’s Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) project through which Galaxy enables the delivery of multiple, live synchronous e-learning lessons to an unlimited number of geographically dispersed students to either PC or TV-based classrooms using a friendly student/instructor interaction. The IDL project combines high quality bi-directional video, voice and educational tools like slide projection, whiteboard, chat and application projection.

 

Speaking at the end of the tour to the press, Senator Anyanwu stated that “I am very impressed with the quality of your Network Operating Centre from where as I understand the company is currently providing connectivity, co-location and other enhanced quality services to its customers including Government MDAs and driving digital access to rural communities and the education sector. But, I must advise Galaxy to create more awareness and enlightenment about its facility to the various Governments including States and Local Governments as well as elected politicians for them to take advantage of the facilities already in place for the development of their people”.

 

In his remarks, Ilukwe used the analogy of a water works and a reservoir which must be in place prior to the laying of water pipes and the actual supply of water to the consumers to reaffirm the fact that the NOC which is the heart of the NICEP project accounts for 50% of the project implementation while the equipment procurement and installation make up 30%. He also informed the distinguished senator that the implementation of the project experienced some delays especially in securing the land allocated to Galaxy since August 2007. There was also site readiness issues based on stipulated criteria for rolling out remote sites. According to Ilukwe, NICEP project actually kicked off in July 2008 with arrival of the 1^st batch of NICEP equipment at Lagos ports.

 

 

To fully achieve its mission and business objectives, the company is committed to operate as a commercial entity by earning revenue from services rendered to its customers in the public and private sectors. In this regard, Galaxy offers a full range and enhanced quality of services designed to meet the challenges facing the financial, manufacturing, telecommunications and public sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Already, the company has built a state-of-the-art Data Center with a 30 TB storage capacity and a Network Operating Centre that will provide dedicated carrier class broadband connectivity, co-location and hosted services to its customers using wireless, fiber, satellite (VSAT) or a combination of these technologies, thereby ensuring excellent service delivery.

 

·         Federal and State Governments

·         Local Government Areas

·         Post Offices

·         State Capitals

·         Tertiary institutions (Federal Universities)

·         International Airports

·         Unity schools

·         Border Posts

·         Interactive Distance Learning

·         Telemedicine

·         Virtual Private Networking

·         Video Conferencing Services

·         IP/Native Telephony

·         IPTV Broadcast Carrier Services

·         Rural Telephony/Internet

 

The company has achieved the deployment of 1012 remote sites nationwide including 34 educational institutions, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) - 35, National Identity Management Commission-34 , Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) 32, Immigration Service - 65, PPMC-23 and others while Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) tops the chat with 220 remote sites.