India is the fastest growing telecom market in the world but telecom penetration is still at a low level. The average broadband bandwidth available ranges between 128-256 Kbps, and videoconferencing still seems to be a distant dream. But the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) seems to have beaten all odds-the company has successfully deployed a videoconferencing solution to communicate with its employees located in remote areas of the country.

PGCIL has a three-tier architecture. At the top of the hierarchy is the corporate center, which is followed by regional headquarters, and sub-stations come at the bottom of the hierarchy. Sub-stations are the most important link in this hierarchy, but are remotely located, in meagerly populated areas. Thus, communication links are not very good in these areas, and even normal telephone lines don't work efficiently.

But, it is extremely important for the company to communicate with these sub-stations.

Initially, PGCIL thought of setting up improved telephone lines in these areas, but later came to the conclusion that it might not work-improved telephone lines could work for giving specific information, but what if reports were needed in bulk? The company also thought of getting documents by post, but it did not appear feasible. “As the company wanted a solution which was versatile, we decided to deploy videoconferencing facilities,” says a PGCIL spokesperson.

The Big Challenge
Videoconferencing has always been considered an up-market technology, normally associated with large or multinational companies; a rare concept. So, the first challenge was convincing and encouraging people to use this new technology. This was because videoconferencing solutions were, at that time, difficult to deploy, and tricky to use.

Yet, making STD calls was a costly alternative, and traveling took a long time, resulting in delayed decisions. When PGCIL finally decided to implement a videoconferencing solution, it undertook a major market research and tried different vendors, before finally deciding on Tandberg as their solution vendor.

In the key findings of the research, PGCIL found that not only were Tandberg systems more robust and simple to deploy, PGCIL didn't have to worry about deployment hiccups; everything was taken care of PGCIL took the major jump in implementing videoconferencing at a time when other enterprises were using either normal telephony or emails.

But the main question was: how would they manage to set up the system with such low levels of bandwidth? PGCIL first leased ISDN (integrated services digital network) lines. However, in some time, even that seemed deficient; the company finally set up dedicated converged networks.

According to a company source: “People thought it was an expensive investment that would not yield the desired results. But we had foreseen the future, and were sure of its advantages even at that time.” Tandberg analyzed PGCIL's systems and requirements in depth, and provided the best solution for its needs.

Tandberg observed that PGCIL needed a high-frequency solution to connect to its sub-stations, and that it should be able to initiate video calls to 8-10 locations as Tandberg offers a variety of videoconferencing components that allow powerful live presentations. PGCIL deployed Tandberg solutions as it had realized that the virtual element has its own share in the communication process and carries more impact compared to telephonic or email communication.

Another essential prerequisite was that it should be able to work at 2 Mbps or external network. “Taking into consideration the requirement at PGCIL, we installed the Tandberg 800, 880 MXP, 1000 MXP, and 6000 MXP videoconferencing solution,” says Ravi Bhatnagar, key account manager, Tandberg. Tandberg also gave PGCIL the benefits of a one-step PC and audio plug-in to enable PGCIL employees with no computer knowledge to operate the system.

Tandberg is a leading global provider of video communication products and services. It designs, develops, and markets systems and software for video, voice, and data. The company has headquarters in New York and Norway. Tandberg's mission is to change the way people communicate.

The Tandberg Solutions is able to address all the problems it faced; from accessing reports to analyzing data, from project monitoring to budget allocation, everything is done via videoconferencing.

The solution has definitely resulted in significant time and cost savings, and has facilitated knowledge transfer, especially to people in remote sites who used to feel secluded from developments in the outside world.

This solution, which began as a solution for communication between the top executives of the company to get rid of delays in decision-making, is now being used even at the sub-station level. It has now become an integral part of the corporate strategy at all levels. The company now also imparts training to remotely located employees via the medium.

The systems that Tandberg has installed enable taking a snapshot of the ongoing conference in JPEG format as well as storing a video of the conference. Over time, PGCIL has realized that the visual component plays more powerful role in the communication process, and carries more impact compared to telephonic or email communication.

At times, it is not possible to determine the importance of a situation by someone's voice, but face-to-face communication helps to do so. The video also gives managers an insight into what employees are up to; there are times when they have been conferencing with someone in a sub-station, and realized that others in the room were sleeping during the meeting.

The company is currently in the process of increasing its videoconferencing facilities, and is evaluating the techno-economic probability if multi-control units are to be set up in areas even more remote than the present ones. We can say that the dream of a connected India is absolutely well and breathing at PGCIL.

Arpita Prem
arpitap@cybermedia.co.in