Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme Was Established By Itf In 1973 To Solve The Problem Of Lack Of Adequate Practical Skills Preparatory For Employment In Industries By Nigerian Graduates Of Tertiary Institutions

A REPORT ON THE STUDENTS INDUSTRIAL WORK EXPERIENCE SCHEME (SIWES) CARRIED OUT AT

iTECO NIGERIA LIMITED A MEMBER OF TELNET NIGERIA LIMITED PLOT 242, KOFO ABAYOMI STREET, VICTOROIA ISLAND, LAGOS, LAGOS STATE. BY OPARA KINGSLEY CHIDOZIE

SUBMITTED TO: HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT TELNET NIGERIA LIMITED PLOT 242, KOFO ABAYOMI STREET, VICTOROIA ISLAND, LAGOS, LAGOS STATE.

1

MARCH 2009 DEDICATION This report is dedicated to Almighty GOD, the provider of wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

2

ACKNOWLEDGMENT I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude in appreciation of the contribution of various individuals who contributed selflessly to my acquisition of knowledge in this company during my internship here. Particular thanks are extended to all my colleagues during the programme in the persons of Damilola, Nnaemeka, Adeniran Funminiyi, Kayode and who all contributed their views as at when needed and were always there whenever I called upon them. Special thanks to Mr Segun Okuneye, Mr Tola Olaayan, Mr. Ojo Oluwaseyi Mr Andrew Abaye, and all members of the department of network implementation (those I referred to as the C6 group) for sharing their knowledge with me all those times I displayed my ignorance, which I agree were quite often. I mean what was I supposed to do, I did not know ANYTHING !!! To all of you, mentioned and not mentioned, am very grateful.

3

ABSTRACT The world of IT is a very dynamic one and only those who keep updating themselves are able to keep abreast of the industry. I can say that there is no better place to do this other than at iTECO and I was very fortunate to get placement in this company. In this report I talked a little about SIWES which brought me here in the first place and iTECO which offer me placement. I presented in details the experiences and skills I gained during the programme and in some instances, mentioned the particular projects I gained it from. I concluded the report by stating the challenges I faced during the programme and made suggestions as to how subsequent IT students could be treated to make them have a better experience than I had. I hope that those coming after me will benefit immensely from this report.

4

CERTIFICATION This is to certify that Opara Kingsley C has undergone the Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme at iTECO NIGERIA LIMITED.

.............................

……………….

Opara Kingsley .C

Date

...………………..

………………… Date

Engr. Lamidi Isiaka Head Project Implementation

5

INTRODUCTION STUDENT INDUSTRIAL WORK EXPERIENCE SCHEME (SIWES) was established by ITF in 1973 to solve the problem of lack of adequate practical skills preparatory for employment in industries by Nigerian graduates of tertiary institutions. The Scheme exposes students to industry based skills necessary for a smooth transition from the classroom to the world of work. It affords students of tertiary institutions the opportunity of being familiarized and exposed to the needed experience in handling machinery and equipment which are usually not available in the educational institutions. Telnet Nigeria Limited is an information and communication technology company that provides telecommunication and related services of the highest professional standard.

Telnet has four subsidiaries namely ITECO, SOFTWORKS, TNS

(TELNET NETWORK SERVICES and TES. I was privileged to carry out my industrial training in iTECO NIG LTD which delivers solutions in design, implementation, and support services in the following areas: integrated networking solutions in the local area, wide area and campus environment. Also, structured cabling systems for data, voice and video connectivity, video conferencing, data center etc in corporate buildings and multi-storey apartment. iTECO has a large workforce of certified professionals with demonstrable skills in all areas of the business and I considered myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to do my internship here. I was assigned to implementation which is a department under iTECO but due to the atmosphere existing there, there is good interworking relationship between all the departments and as such, I was able to interact and also exchange information with people from other departments and sometimes other subsidiaries. It was in the above settings that I did my internship and considering the large number of students jostling for placement in this company and also the status of the company in the IT world, it was a rare opportunity. Detailed and chronicled below are the experiences I gained from the vast knowledge base that exist in this company.

6

STRUCTURED CABLING SYSTEM (SCS) A structured cabling system (SCS) is a set of cabling and connectivity products that integrates the voice, data, video, and various management systems of a building (such as safety alarms, security access, energy systems, etc.). It involves installation of a wide variety of copper, fiber optic, cables and associated components. These installations are carried out by well trained team thus ensuring high standards of installation of the structured cabling. This is done looking at immediate applications and will also take into account future applications, future growth of concerned organization and possible technology changes which would impact the cabling needs. Considerations like type of network, equipment, load balancing and redundancy will be taking into account Through out my internship I was involved in cabling and I gained valuable experience in this regard. I participated in cabling for British Gas exploration, Petrobras, Mobil house, Rencap, Afribank and so on. SITE SURVEY Site survey is a comprehensive exercise meant to accurately assess the layout and conditions impacting the environment and network. Factors such as structural layout of the facility, building codes and safety and physical security issues are among the conditions that will be incorporated into the cabling plant design and the final site management plan. Well qualified network engineers will analyze and explore voice and data cabling requirement making such decisions as bill of materials, telecommunications room sizes, locations, pathways, cable routes, industry standards, codes, current and future applications that have great impact on the network design. Site survey is very paramount to the eventual success of the entire project and as such adequate effort are made to make sure that accurate site survey is done and the details gathered during the survey are well documented. A survey has to be carried out in the area or building where the network backbone is to be installed in order to get During my stay here I was able to learn how to carry out site survey and implement project based on the site survey.

7

PHYSICAL MEDIA There 3 basic types of transmission media:  Coaxial Cable  Twisted pair  Optical fiber First and Foremost, before selecting a transmission media, certain factors are considered such as  Bandwidth  Cost of connectivity  Interference and noise  Security requirement COAXIAL CABLE Coaxial Cable consists of 2 conductors. The inner conductor is held inside an insulator with the other conductor woven around it providing a shield. An insulating protective

coating

called

a

jacket

covers

the

outer

conductor.

The outer shield protects the inner conductor from outside electrical signals. Which makes it much less susceptible to electrical and radio frequency interference and can carry much more data. Coaxial cable is called "coaxial" because it includes one physical channel that carries the signal surrounded (after a layer of insulation) by another concentric physical channel, both running along the same axis. The outer channel serves as a ground. TWISTED PAIR The wires in Twisted Pair cabling are twisted together in pairs. Each pair would consist of a wire used for the +ve data signal and a wire used for the -ve data signal. Cables with a shield are called Shielded Twisted Pair and commonly abbreviated STP. Cables without a shield are called Unshielded Twisted Pair or UTP and this (UTP) is commonly used for data and voice connectivity. The main advantage of twisted pair is its cost, it is the least expensive of all LAN cables. TYPES OF TWISTED PAIR NETWORK CABLE

8

Straight Through Cross Over Roll Over OPTICAL FIBER Optical fiber (or "fiber optic") refers to the medium and the technology associated with the transmission of information as light pulses along a glass or plastic wire or fiber. Optical fiber carries much more information than twisted pair and coaxial cable and is in general not subject to electromagnetic interference and the need to retransmit signals. FIBRE MODE OF TRANSMISSION An important characteristic of Fibre Optics is Refraction. Refraction is the characteristic of a material to either pass or reflect light. When light passes through a medium, it bends as it passes from one medium to the other. Optical Fibres work on the principle that the core refracts the light and the cladding reflects the light. The core refracts the light and guides the light along its path. The cladding reflects any light back into the core and stops light from escaping through it. Advantages of Optical Fibre: Immunity to Electromagnetic interference (EMI) Security: cannot tap into the cable Faster transmission rate Large capacity due to wide bandwidth Disadvantages of Optical Fibre If bent too much, it will break Physical vibration will show up as signal noise During my stay here I frequently work with cables, both fibre and copper ,and as such I have acquired proficiency both in crimping, terminating and installing these cables. NETWORK INSTALLATION TOOLS I work with various installation tools such as punch-down tool, wire crimper, screw driver and LAN cable tester. These are tools used for structured cabling and I got first hand experience using these tools which was a great learning experience for me. ACTIVE DEVICES

9

Very paramount to network connections are active devices which does the intelligent work of the network. Mostly through research, I learned a great deal about the operations of these devices and how they relate to each other. Also the staffs and my colleagues here are ever ready to answer any questions I put to them and as such helped me a great deal. I learned configurations of these devices and I participated in deploying some of them. DOCUMENTATION During my stay at iTECO, I had opportunities of taking part in many project documentations and this has developed my appreciation and knowledge of this process. I realized the significance of documentation which helps other people gain insight into whatever it is we are handling. It also gives others, who will be involved in similar projects, an avenue to learn from our mistakes, successes and breakthrough and also provide a means of proper reference when such are needed in the future. Some of the documentations I did are invoice notification, delivery letter, gate pass store requisition form and so on. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT To say that was a green horn in the IT industry prior to my joining iTECO would be overkill but in terms of knowledge it would be very close to an apt description of the state I was then. But due to the internship, I now know a lot of things I never knew even existed. How many times, during the programme, have someone said something is not possible in one certain way and another person, right in the same office, has simply collected the mouse and with a few clicks, done that same thing in the same way we previously thought was not possible? How many times have I suffered for days in silence trying to achieve a particular task and that task have simply been achieved within a few seconds of telling another person? These instances have made me realize the importance of asking questions and not keeping difficulties to myself. I believe am now a better person, both in knowledge and character, than I was when I came into this company.

10

CONCLUSION SIWES program has given me the rare privilege of gaining practical knowledge in the world of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). It has been a very challenging journey but enjoyable, eye-opening and enlightening all the way. Sometimes during the programme I have felt like packing up but with perseverance and doggedness I was able to get through. What I have gained I can not even begin to document but I hope that through the report above I have been able to show some of what I gained. As a result of the internship, I can now do a lot of things relating to ICT which includes;  Configuring network active devices  Carrying out site survey  Crimping and terminating cables  Testing of copper and fiber cables  Satisfying customer’s expectations  Structured cabling for LAN  And I also became CCNA certified.

11

CHALLENGES I encountered lots of challenges during the course of my scheme here. Some of them could have been avoided but some I will attribute to experience. Some of them are listed below.  Lack of sufficient funds to cater for onsite engineers  Indifferent attitude of drivers to the engineers  No adequate guidelines for IT students  No compensation whatsoever to motivate engineers

12

RECOMMENDATION Many of the difficulties I encountered could have been prevented if certain things have been put in place. Below are the recommendations I would suggest:  Proper orientation should be done for incoming people so as to familiarize them with the existing procedures.  Adequate provisions should be made to cater for transportation of engineers.  Better procedures should be put in place for engineers to retire whatever is spent during the course of executing projects.  Arrangement should be made to give tutorial to IT and youth corps members so as to provide better learning experience.  Proper planning should be done before embarking on projects.  Adequate compensation should be provided for engineers.

13