Messaging
Electronic Mail (better known as E-Mail), is the most used Network Service across the country. National Informatics Centre (NIC) provides different kinds of E-mail services to its users, over NICNET, which is NIC’s satellite-based communication network. The different types of e-mail services being provided include SMTP, UUCP and X.400. The NICNET e-mail service is distributed over many mail servers located at different NIC Centers. These are inter-linked with each other in a way that mails can be exchanged amongst all types of services.
NIC Email Services
NIC offers secure and reliable email services to the Central and State Government officials. These services are maintained for official communication in Government through a Managed Service Provider. The email system is hosted in secure data centers. NIC email also provides office productivity tools and secure communication utilities.
Messaging Services
In addition to email, NIC provides comprehensive messaging solutions that support communication across government bodies. The messaging infrastructure is designed for high availability and secure delivery, making it a vital communication tool for day-to-day government operations.
SMS Services
NIC also provides SMS gateway services that enable government departments to send bulk and transactional messages to citizens and officials. These services are used for alerts, public notifications, OTPs, and appointment confirmations. The SMS platform helps bridge the digital divide by reaching users without internet access, ensuring timely dissemination of important information across the country.
The E-mail service is also integrated with a X.500 directory which makes it possible to search for and locate e-mail addresses very easily. It is also possible to send fax messages through E-mail since a gateway is provided for conversion of messages for fax recipients.
Mails are accepted and sent in NICNET from a single entry point i.e. via the SMTP gateways. Over 8 lakh mails are transacted in a day. Once a mail is accepted in the network, based on its address, it is routed to the recipient server.
Messaging services constitute one of the primary applications deployed across the network. Each network connected to the Internet has a Domain Name associated with it, to ensure email and other traffic getting directed to the right recipient.
In the case of NICNET, this domain is known as “nic.in”. All emails to the home user are directed to “home.User[at]nic[dot]in” which results in the mail being stored on the NIC mail server, ready to be collected by the home user email client. “Gov.in” domain accounts are also maintained by NIC for use by Government departments.
Under the Digital India initiative, NIC has established a robust Messaging framework that includes core E-Mail application Gateway services, Short Messaging Service (SMS), OBD (Outbound Dialing) and an IT Platform for citizen engagement (Sampark). These services collectively create a value chain over the existing NIC web portals that host Digital Services and are used extensively by Central & State Governments for citizen engagement & disseminating information.
