TCS to use STPI data centres in Chennai for passport project

CHENNAI: India���s largest software exporter by sales, TCS will use the data centre set up by the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) in Chennai as a disaster recovery centre for its ePassport service. This tie-up is likely to fetch STPI, which comes under the Union IT ministry annual income for the next seven years.

Omkar Rai, senior director, STPI told reporters in Chennai that TCS will use the data centre for seven years, giving the STPI an income of Rs 3 crore a year. TCS is the first corporate client for the data centre, which was set up at a cost of Rs 30 crore.

TCS last year won the Passport Seva Project from the Centre last year, an initiative aimed at improving the delivery of passports in the country. STPI���s centre in Chennai would function as a back-up data centre for the same.

Mr Rai, who was in Chennai last week for CII���s Connect 09, further said that the data centre would also be used to promote applications in the portal India.in, which was set up by STPI through a joint venture with MTNL.

After Chennai, STPI is mulling data centres in cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and it invited bids for setting up these centres. But Mr Rai did not share the investment details for the same, as its still in the early stages.