Irish IT company Globalnet has won a tender from the Global eSchools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI)to provide a complete IT service including a VoIP (voice over internet protocol) system to the NGO’s offices in Ghana, India and Bolivia.
George O’Dowd, managing director of Globalnet, told siliconrepublic.com that the company will be providing full hardware maintenance, support and administration as well as ongoing monitoring and a support desk service.
Gloablnet, which employs eight staff between its Dublin and Naas offices, will also be installing and managing the company’s all-important VoIP system.
This is extremely important and a huge driver for the development of ICT in these countries and crucial to GeSCI’s work, O’Dowd said.
“An employee in any country ideally should have the same IT experience as their colleagues in Dublin,” he said. “However, due to poor telecoms infrastructure in Bangladesh, for example, that is not always possible. We have to be creative and try to find a compromise that works for their field-based employees.”
Terry Culver, assistant executive director of GeSCI, said that the mission of their company is to highlight the importance of ICT in a country development plan.
“Our needs are always changing and evolving due to the growth of our organisation. Globalnet has substantially reduced out telecoms costs due to the implementation of a VoIP telephone system,” he said.
Globalnet had previously worked with some other private companies but O’Dowd said that they would not have had the global requirements that GeSCI does. He said this is one of Globalnet’s largest contracts to date, owing to GeSCI’s high profile worldwide.
By Marie Boran
