The recent association between the state-owned telecom, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) with the telecom equipment maker, Ericsson seems to bring in more depth to their relationship with each other. The proximity among them has even influenced BSNL to take a decision which apparently looks to be Ericsson’s decision.

BSNL even has been reported to act upon Ericsson’s recommendations of rebuking original vendors like Sun Microsystems and EMC Corporation to appoint Hewlett Packard (HP) for the deployment of disaster recovery systems in northern and eastern parts of India.

In a letter to Ericsson (the main implementation partner), BSNL has reportedly permitted Ericsson to use HP's DR solutions.

The vendors have accused that the original purchase order issued to Ericsson did not carry the name HP's DR systems. DR is the disaster recovery system which stores data and several other business processes across different physical locations. These records are stored as a back-up to protect it from disasters.

In March 2006, BSNL’s technical committee had passed a tender where it clearly approved storage systems of SUN and EMC.

Sun Microsystems had earlier challenged the decision as the company expressing its disappointment. These companies wanted BSNL to follow the norms of the GSM tender where they believe they are entitled to get a part of the mega Ericsson contract. Sun had also questioned the changes after the “finalisation” of the deal.
 
But Ericsson was concerned with the delay in the project . As a result, Ericsson recommended BSNL to deploy HP systems. BSNL’s technical committee had declined to act on Sun Microsystems’s objection against the usage of HP systems.

When contacted, Ericsson and all other companies declined to comment. BSNL officials were unreachable. X