Tripura: Agartala gets India's first smart city-owned data centre

Agartala: Agartala Smart City Limited in Tripura inaugurated its own Data Centre, marking it as the first smart city in India to establish such a facility. 

The event was attended by Tripura Chief Secretary JK Sinha, Urban Development Secretary Abhishek Singh, Shailesh Kumar Yadav, Mission Director of Agartala Smart City Ltd, and Jeya Ragul Geshan, Director of Information and Technology.

Shailesh Kumar Yadav, who also serves as the Commissioner of Agartala Municipal Corporation, highlighted the significance of this new Data Centre for Agartala Smart City. The facility, equipped with servers operating around the clock and equipment valued at Rs 30 crore, was previously hosted in the DIT Data Centre. Due to various reasons, the decision was made to establish an independent data centre.

All smart elements installed throughout Agartala, including CCTV cameras, traffic signals, LED display boards, and weather information boards, are interconnected through 156 km of optical fibre cable owned by Agartala Smart City. This extensive network feeds into the new Data Centre, which functions as the central hub, operating continuously.

Yadav explained that the Data Centre has a provision for storing all data, such as CCTV footage, for 30 days by default. In cases where the police or other authorities require data for extended investigations, the centre can accommodate longer storage periods. The facility boasts a significant data storage capacity, with 1 petabyte of primary storage and 1.9 petabytes of secondary storage. 

This advanced data centre makes Agartala the only smart city in India to have its own dedicated data centre and optical fibre cable network, with scalability options for future needs.

Agartala Smart City Limited inaugurated its own Data Centre on Monday, becoming the first smart city in India to establish a dedicated data centre under a smart city project. 

The inauguration was attended by Tripura Chief Secretary JK Sinha, Urban Development Secretary Abhishek Singh, Dr. Shailesh Kumar Yadav, Mission Director of Agartala Smart City Ltd, and Jeya Ragul Geshan, Director of Information and Technology.

Shailesh Kumar Yadav, who also serves as the Commissioner of Agartala Municipal Corporation, explained that the new Data Centre is equipped with servers operating around the clock and features equipment worth Rs 30 crore. 

He mentioned, "Previously, our data was hosted in the DIT Data Centre. However, for several reasons, we decided to set up our own facility. This new centre is now the hub for all smart elements installed throughout the city, including CCTV cameras, traffic signals, LED display boards, and weather information display boards. These are all connected via 156 km of optical fibre cable owned by Agartala Smart City, making this facility the core of our network operations, functioning 24x7."

The Data Centre has a default provision to store all data, such as CCTV footage from across the city, for 30 days. 

Yadav noted, "In cases of incidents where the police or other authorities need to retain data for longer periods, it can be accommodated. We have substantial storage capacity, with 1 petabyte as primary storage and 1.9 petabytes as secondary storage. This advanced facility is unique in being the only Smart City in India to have its own data centre and optical fibre network. The infrastructure is also scalable to meet future needs."