The project, undertaken by the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO), is part of a move to develop e-government in Bahrain.
The new technology includes wireless communication to transport data from one location to another, said CIO computer operations director Mohammed Ali Al Qaed.
The project was implemented for CIO by Fakhro Electronics and Almoayyed Telecom.
Fifteen government applications will benefit from the project immediately.
These include the immigration and passport system, Central Population Register (CPR), customs and ports, traffic and licensing, commercial registration, labour, financial management information systems (FMIS), Human Resources Information System, Health Ministry applications, government-wide email and portal, and government-wide secure Internet access.
The Government Data Network (GDN) was first introduced in 1981, to allow ministries to share data and information.
"Bahrain was the first country in the region to implement a data communication network for intra-ministry communications," said Mr Al Qaed.
"The technology used has been upgraded on a regular basis. GDN connects various government ministries and directorates and enables them to access applications and data at any ministry, regardless of its location."
The network has now been further upgraded with wireless technology.
The second phase of the project has already been initiated and that includes broadband Ethernet technology, said Mr Al Qaed.
"This will enable ministries and government agencies to communicate faster than ever," he added.
"The bandwidth capacity will increase more than 24 times compared with its present capacity.
"Also it will be widely possible to transfer not only the text at high speed but also other forms of data such as voice, video and multimedia."
The government-wide email system and Internet connections will become faster and more efficient, said Mr Al Qaed.
A total of 44 sites will be connected with the new technology in the second phase, which is expected to be completed in three months.
It will start with a link between CIO and the Finance and National Economy Ministry.
Quelle: Gulf Daily News
