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Formal Inauguration of HSFBLAN - MCN
The formal inauguration and the awards distribution ceremony of the “Establishment of Fiber Optic Based LAN with Wireless Computing Support at University of Karachi” was held on Thursday, 8th May 2008 at the University of Karachi. The Department of Main Communication Network University of Karachi organized this ceremony. The project was sponsored by Higher Education Commission.
The fiber optic network established at the University of Karachi is the largest academic fiber optic network in Pakistan and in Asia. With over 90,000 feet fiber optic cable been laid to connect 57 teaching departments and 18 research institutes of University of Karachi, this network provides services such as video conferencing, VoIP, File Sharing and Communication with the Pakistan Educational Research Network.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui said that it is one of the brightest moments of University of Karachi that the High Speed Fiber Optic Based LAN establishment project has been completed and is functioning at full potential.
The completion of this project is indeed a landmark for the University of Karachi. He congratulated the Project Director Prof. Dr. S.M. Aqil Burney and the entire project team who worked tirelessly to complete this project in an efficient manner. He also thanked the chairman HEC Prof. Dr Atta-ur-Rehman for his unconditional support in developing Pakistan largest academic fiber optic network at University of Karachi.
He further said that the project has shifted the paradigm of the University of Karachi and has taken us closer to the digital and electronic learning paradigm. Along with providing internet facilities to the faculty, staff and students at the campus, the project has also enabled us to access recent research journals and periodicals through PERN (Pakistan Education Research Network) and the HEC provided facilities. Through the project, latest technologies like VoIP, Hotspots, and video conferencing facilities are also made available to the university. This is, without a doubt, a remarkable achievement and is right step towards achieving academic excellence.
He also congratulated all the faculty, staff and students of University and hoped that the project contributes a lot of achievement of excellence at the University of Karachi.
Dr. Muhammad Qaiser, the Vice Chancellor of the Urdu Science University and the guest of honor at this ceremony praised the network team especially the director Prof. Dr. S.M. Aqil Burney for his tireless efforts in making this project successful. He also praised the Vice Chancellor of University of Karachi for his support on such technology based projects. He said that it is indeed necessary for the Universities of Pakistan to excel in every field and especially in technology and this project certainly has given an example to the rest of the Pakistani universities.
Project Director of this project and now the Director of the Main Communication Network, Meritorious Professor Dr. S.M. Aqil Burney said that he felt honored and gratified on the auspicious occasion of formal inauguration of this project "Establishment of High Speed Fiber Optic Based LAN with wireless computing Support at University of Karachi.
The idea of the university wide High Speed Fiber LAN Establishment (HSFBLAN) was conceived in the year 2001 by the Project Director. A proposal in the form of PC-1 was submitted to the Ministry of Science & Technology, a very first proposal was transformed to Higher Education Commission (HEC) when it started working under the able guidance of Prof. Dr Atta-ur-Rehman.
He further said that the PC-1 of this project was approved in the year 2003. Now the project has been completely deployed. All the 62 departments ( Academic and Administration) and 18 Research Institutes of University of Karachi have been connected via Fiber Optic Cable with eight Access Switches,62 Distribution Switches and One Core Switch.
This network is now providing Internet, Intranet, VoIP, and Video Conferencing, Wireless Hotspots facilities to the students, staff, and faculty of University of Karachi. The bandwidth available for the internet has also been increased to 24 Mbps. In the end he thanked the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Pirzada Qasim Raza and Chairman HEC, Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman, for their unconditional support in making this dream a reality.
Members of the network advisory team Engr. Sadiq Ali Khan, Engr. Hussain Saleem , S.Engr. Syed Asim Ali, Mr. Nadeem Mehmood, and Mr. Badar Sami and the other network staff were also given mementos and certificates on their remarkable contribution in deploying this project.
