L&T wins 'large' contract from Indian Army for advanced IT-enabled network

Business Standard Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro on Tuesday said it has won a 'large' contract from the Indian Army for setting up an advanced IT-enabled system to operate the Armed Forces network under the Network of Spectrum (NFS). Although the company did not mention the exact value of the contract, according to its project classification, the value of a large order ranges between Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 5,000 crore. The Smart World and Communication Business of L&T Construction has secured a large order from the Indian Army to establish a unified network management system to manage, support and operate the countrywide Armed Forces Network under the NFS, the company said in a statement. "This is an extremely crucial and sensitive project for the Ministry of Defence and we are proud that the Ministry has reposed their faith in our technical, engineering and solutioning capabilities to execute this project," said SN Subrahmanyan - CMD, Larsen & Toubro. It involves creating a centralised network monitoring, management and control system for all the seven layers under NFS which interconnects 414 Defence stations, he added, describing the scope of the mandate. The project involves the creation of a resilient Cloud-based IT infrastructure on Infrastructure as a service (IAAS) model. The scope also includes Next Generation Operations System and Software based Unified Network Management System, Eight Network Operations Centers (NOCs) consisting of National NOCs, Disaster Recovery NOCs, Regional NOCs, Security Operation Centers, Tier III Data Centres and Training Infrastructure, the company said. The facilities under this project will allow real-time monitoring of the complete IT network backbone of the Indian army and provide complete visibility of deployed Network assets, leading to optimal utilization of resources, it added. The project is to be implemented in 18 months followed by three years of warranty and seven years of Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) during which L&T will provide managed maintenance services. Larsen & Toubro is an Indian multinational engaged in technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services with over USD 21 billion in revenue.