Sharjah College, SMB ink Dh1m deal

A Dh1 million deal has been signed by Sharjah College with SMB Computers, a solutions provider of IT products and services, to upgrade its IT infrastructure.

The college is going in for a complete network re-vamp, from a hub-based network to a switched network, enabling transfer speeds of 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) or higher, through a Gigabit backbone using 3Com Gigabit switches.

The network will be protected from the outside environment using a Cisco Pix Firewall solution. This prevents attack from the outside world (via the Internet) and also controls Internet usage by students and others within the college.

SMB has installed over 160 PCs, including new desktop computer systems and replacing some of the existing systems, to provide the latest Pentium 4 based computer systems from Acer.

Networked printers from Epson will also be installed at various locations throughout the college, according to Seyed Ibrahim Bukhary, director, SMB Group.

"This move comes in the wake of directives from the UAE Ministry of Education and Youth on the provision of IT infrastructure in all the educational institutions across the country," said Dr E.M.S. Edirisinghe, president, Sharjah College. "We are confident that we will play a prominent role in fostering the growth of advanced technological and professional education not just in the UAE but throughout the region."