launches the government Unified Messaging and Collaboration Platform at NITA-U. Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda, Minister for Information communication technology visited NITA-U facilities today 19TH July 2011 at 11am.
The Minister started with a tour of the Government Data Centre at Statistics House. The data Centre is part of the IT infrastructure that will host key Government applications starting with secure messaging and collaboration systems. It is a state-of-the art facility built with redundancy; secure biometric access control systems, and environmental monitoring systems. This center will save government money on cost of building multiple data centers and duplication of infrastructure.
The Minister who was accompanied by the Board members of NITA-U and the Executive Director, James Saaka also visited the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) Transmission site at Parliament which is the hub connecting 22 transmission sites across the country from the east (Kenya) connecting to the under-sea internet cables to Nimule (border with Sudan). NBI will be operationalized on 1st September 2011.
Hon. Rugunda also met with the NITA-U staff at their new offices on Palm Courts where he launched the Government Secure Messaging and Collaboration system. Secure Messaging and Collaboration system currently being piloted at NITA-U is to be rolled out to Ministry of Information Communication Technology and State house in September 2011. This includes incorporated end to end secure email, Instant Messaging, Voice and Video conferencing. Centralized antivirus and intrusion detection systems have been installed.
The minister was impressed by the amount of work that has been done to build the infrastructure and expressed hope that it would be used to benefit Ugandans. He added that technology should be used to make government services more efficient, bring information closer to the people and most importantly, create employment.
“I am happy to be associated with this crop of young and energetic professionals recruited at NITA-U who are expected to be leaders of the ICT revolution in Uganda.”
“Uganda currently has all the necessary prerequisite and conducive environment to make it play a very key role in the dynamic ICT industry and ensure that the ICT revolution and wide range of benefits accrue to our people. It must make them leap forward in development as Technology is one of the biggest drivers for development.”
He emphasized government’s commitment to technology as the Presidents manifesto focuses highly on establishment and utilization of critical IT infrastructure to create the needed employment of the youth and urged NITA-U to optimize on the use of private sector to expeditiously enable citizens, government, students and the general population benefit from the rapid developments in IT industry.
The Minister also expressed gratitude to the previous Minister Hon. Aggrey Awori and his team for the work and leadership that enabled the sector to grow.
