IIT-Madras launches mega national server

Updated on: Friday, February 11, 2011

IIT-Madras has developed a mega server which can be used to download without any glitches massive and best of academic material by students free of cost, at a time when the faculty-student ratio is miserably low in the country.

The server will help the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), which is a joint initiative of IITs and IIScs, funded by the Human Resource Development Ministry.

The National Video Server was inaugurated by Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal.

After watching a presentation made by IIT Madras, Mr Sibal said it was a ''pathbreaking innovation''.

''Previously, we were using Google, Amazons etc, but now we have our own server to connect our universities, and really serve students,'' he said.

The Minister emphasised the need of making the contents more useful and interesting so that the ''kids do not feel bored''.

Speaking on the occasion, IIT Madras Director Prof M S Ananth said under NPTEL phase-I, 125 courses in web format and 135 courses in video format in technology, engineering and sciences had been developed. These include the corresponding syllabi prescribed by AICTE-approved institutions and programmes.

In Phase-II, more than 1,000 courses (at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels) have been proposed. These courses cover various disciplines including Technology, Engineering, Management, Sciences and Humanities. The courses are expected to be completed by 2012 and will be available to everyone free of cost.

This facility has become necessary since Youtube access is severely limited by many organisations in India, he said.

He said work on this server was started a few years ago after realising that the faculty-student ratio was going to be low in the country.

''We have worked out a course that cover syllabi of all universities, and all the course are in the same server,'' he said.

With this Video Server located at IIT Madras and connected to 1 Gbps link of National Knowledge Network and 155 Mbps link to the Colleges' Virtual Private Network (VPN) under the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), e-content download would be possible for all the Universities and Colleges that have got connectivity under the NMEICT.

At present, more than 250 University/University level Institutions and nearly 11,000 Colleges are already connected on NKN and College VPN and they could straight away start using or downloading the e-content for their storage and local use.

The NPTEL is India's largest technical knowledge dissemination programme through ICT in the higher education sector. Its main objective is to increase the reach of high quality engineering and sciences education across the country, which has the potential to transform India into a strong and vibrant knowledge economy.

IIT-Madras launches mega national server

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