With the rapid changes brought about by the Information Technology revolution in every walk of life, Video-conferencing, or a remote meeting between individuals physically present in geographically dispersed locations, is being seen as an effective alternative to conventional meetings. The National Informatics Centre ventured into the field of Videoconferencing Technology and Applications way back in 1995 and has grown from strength to strength ever since. As this service involves a cultural change, NIC is putting a lot of efforts in educating the users to see Videoconferencing as a viable option. NIC has invested in the state-of-the-art Multipoint Conferencing Server (MCS), which enables several sites to participate in one conference. MCS is the central point of connectivity for endpoints. It enables different networks, different bandwidths, and different types of endpoints to communicate effectively. The Largest Videoconferencing Network operational in India, spread across length and breadth of the country. Operational over VSAT (NICNET) in 26 cities spread all over India Also operational over ISDN from 23 Ministries in New Delhi and 10 State Secretariats Multi-point Video meeting up to 16 sites over VSAT, ISDN BRI and ISDN PRI. "AnyWhere AnyTime Videoconferencing" services using Mobile & Portable VSATs. Affordable charges of Rs 3,150/hour including both sites for a point-to-point video meeting and Rs.3,150/- for every additional site in a multipoint meeting. NIC can provide video-conferencing service to any organization which comes under NICNET user domain as approved by the Govt of India. By now more than 2000 video-conferencing sessions have been conducted for various NICNET users. Conferences have also been held at outside venues like Talkotra Stadium, Delhi & Kanteerva Indoor Stadium, Bangalore to name a few. Some of the valued users of NIC's Video Conferencing Services include Honourable President and Prime Minister of India, Hon'ble President of US Mr. Bill Clinton, Press Information Bureau, NHPC, Powergrid Corporation, Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Ministry of Tourism, Director General of Foreign Trade, Government of Gujarat, Ministry of Food & Consumer Affairs, UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNIDO, British Council Division, National Institute of Fashion Technology and others. The Video Conferencing Studios of NIC are located at New Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai (Air India Building), Navi Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Chennai, Hyderabad, Tirupur, Vishakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Calcutta, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Guwahati, Shillong, Gangtok, Agartala, Itanagar, Kohima, Imphal and Aizwal. Some of the recently held important Video-coneferncing sessions include the ones given below: Prime Minster's Interaction with Lucknow over VC Honourable Prime Minister Sh Atal Behari Vajpayee interacted with Local representatives, Social workers and Gram Pradhans of Lucknow over Video Conferencing on Saturday 25th November, 2000. The Video meeting was organised over NICNET at 768 Kbps by using two Portable SCPC VSATs; one at PM’s residence in New Delhi and other at Lucknow Development Authority, Lucknow. It was an interactive meeting which lasted for more than 30 minutes with near TV quality video. Video-Conference on AIDS, HIV The Union Health Minister Sh. C.P Thakur interacted with Chief Minister of Karnataka Sh S.M. Krishna, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri V.R.Deshmukh and the Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Shri Chandrababu Naidu over videoconferencing on 30th November 2000 on the eve of ‘World Aids Day’. The Video conference, facilitated by NIC, was organised by UNAIDS in association with theUnion Health Ministry. The conference, to discuss the topic of HIV and AIDS was moderated by Shri Vikram Chandra and The video-conferencing session on AIDS in progress