THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government will procure the high-end video conferencing tool ‘V-Console’, developed by Techgentsia software Techologies, on a barter basis. The product was selected as the winner of the Rs 1 crore video conferencing innovation challenge organised by the Union Ministry of Electronics and IT last year.
The cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal for purchasing 10,000 ports of the software. The licence fee for acquiring the software in the open market is Rs 43 crore. However, the agreement between IT department and Techgentsia is in such a manner that the state government will bear the rent of 15,000 square feet office space at the Infopark at Kochi and Cherthala where Techgentsia offices function for the next five years, in lieu of the licence fee.
In the first phase, the state government will use 10,000 ports and the video conferencing of various departments under the state government will be done through this software. “With the introduction of V-Console, Kerala will be the first state to use own video conferencing tool like the union government. There is huge potential for video conferencing in post-Covid period too. The encouragement that we received will be a boost for all start ups in the state,” said Joy Sebastian, Co-founder and CEO of Techgentsia.
After winning the national challenge beating around 1,800 companies, the NIC acquired V-Console and rebranded it as Bharat VC for the use of Central government departments. At present, this system is used by official video conferences attended by ministers and senior officials, including the Prime Minister. The V-Console was used by the PM to talk with Olympic athletes and their families recently.
The online sittings of the Kerala High Court are also held on the V-Console. It also used for online video conferencing by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Indian Plasma Research Institute, Indian Navy and Kerala Election Commission.