ETPL Powers University of Jaffna by enhancing internet connectivity

Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd. (ETPL) successfully completed the implementation of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure project comprising a campus-wide structured cabling system with both optical fibre and Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) cables at the University of Jaffna.

The multimillion rupee project was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and managed by a monitoring committee comprising academics and administrative staff from University of Jaffna, University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC), University of Peradeniya and University of Ruhuna.

ETPL provided the best design for the structured cabling infrastructure and certified engineers to implement the project. The project included providing secure connectivity to over 2,500 work stations together with over 5,000 m of external fibre and over 1,300 m of internal fibre, interconnecting the entire University of Jaffna.

The project was carried out according to accepted international telecommunication industry standards. The network design incorporates features to scale and expand the network and connectivity as and when the need arises, keeping in line with the growth and expansion plans of the university.

“The world has become a global village with the advent of the internet. We are confident that the state-of-the-art network deployed at the Jaffna University will provide opportunities to enhance collaboration and cooperation amongst academics locally and globally in conducting their research activities leading to long term growth and development of the country whilst improving the quality of education it offers,” said Dr. E.Y.A, Charles, Head of Department – Computer Science, University of Jaffna and the coordinator for this project.

The Jaffna University offers degrees in several disciplines covering computer science, arts, law, medicine, science, agriculture and business studies for over 3,000 internal, over 800 external, 500 post graduate and over 350 students at the Vavuniya campus.

The network and infrastructure were not available hitherto to connect workstations or provide connectivity to the internet, which limited the opportunities for collaboration, learning and widespread research activities at the university.

The University of Jaffna is today the home of six faculties with 57 academic departments, several service/academic/support units and centres and a campus at Vavuniya, about 130 km from Jaffna.

Expansion is planned with the addition of a few more faculties, departments and centres, which are scheduled for development and will, in time, further open the university’s doors to the public and increase its role, responsibilities and commitments to the region around it.

“We are delighted that ETPL was selected and given the opportunity to design, test and implement this project as the University of Jaffna is the centre of education in the northern peninsula. The project will benefit the students and academic staff as well as the university administration by providing the means for enhanced collaboration via seamless access to each other as well as to the outside world via the internet,” said T. Janarrthanan, Chief Marketing Officer of ETPL.

ETPL is a member of the reputed ERI group of companies. ERI strives to be a socially responsible business entity which firmly believes in the positive and far reaching effects of good governance policies and providing financial management, strategic guidance and strong management discipline to help restructure companies and make good companies even better.