IT infrastructure provider RailTel has been awarded a Rs 294.37 crore ($35.9m) contract from the Tamil state-owned drinks company TASMAC.

The contract will see RailTel provide TASMAC with end-to-end computerization and connectivity over the next five years. This will also involve RailTel providing the infrastructure of this project, including the development of a data center and data recovery center which can then offer two-way disaster recovery in conjunction with the Tamil Nadu state data center (TNSDC). Specifications for the data center and disaster recovery center were not shared.

TASMAC (TamilNadu State Marketing Corporation) was incorporated in 1956 and is wholly owned by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The company procures Indian-made foreign liquor and beer stocks from local manufacturers, distributes the product via depots, and engages in retail sales. TASMAC currently hosts its IT at the TNSDC, a colocation facility launched in 2011. TNSDC 1 has a capacity of over 150 racks, while TNSDC, phase two of the state data center, can house up to 138 racks.

RailTel will deploy IT infrastructure in a variety of locations including TASMAC’s head office in Chennai, the senior regional manager office, the district manager office, 43 depots, and several retail shops across the state.

According to RailTel, TASMAC will entrust the company with the Excise and TASMAC Integrated Supply Chain Management System; track and trace for the supplier, depot, and retail vending shop; the human resources management system, and the financial and accounting system.

As expected, this will involve a significant amount of digitization, migration of historical data, and the establishment of Internet connectivity at various locations, all of which will be handled by RailTel for the next half-decade. A senior government official told The New India Express that this process should be completed by the end of the year.

RailTel owns two data centers in India, one in Secunderabad and another in Gurugram, from which it offers colocation, cloud computing, and managed hosting solutions among others. The company is a Mini Ratna Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Railways. The company has provided the RailWire WiFi service to Indian Railways, turning over 6,108 stations into digital centers. In January 2022, the company was looking for a partner to develop over 100 Edge data centers at railway stations across the country.

RailTel received another government-backed contract in May of last year which saw the company expand Madhya Pradesh’s state data center and create a disaster recovery center in a deal valued at RS. 115 Crore including taxes ($14.9 million).