VAR INDIA Tech Summit sparks discussions on Emerging Technologies Bringing Newer Opportunities

Eminent leaders from across the leading organizations, CIOs and VARs opined the need of addressing compliance and challenges in various AI, IoT and Automations

Bangalore, December 21, 2018 – Recently VARINDIA has organised its Tech Summit at Hotel Le Meridian, Bangaluru, where the CIO community and tech leaders from technology, Security and AI industry gathered to understand on how Emerging Technologies are creating newer markets. The Tech Summit also witnessed the ‘Next Generation datacentre, AI, Storage and security products and solutions, where the leadership from ITI, IT Department of Karnataka, NVIDIA, Western Digital, SOPHOS, ESDS Datacenter and Quardgen Wireless spoke on various technology innovations in the heart of Silicon City, Bangaluru. The event featured panellists from leading organizations, such as AEGIS, Gokaldas, Dailyhunt, e-Gov Katnataka, Cytechcare Hospital and I Ram Technologies had participated in the Panel discussion session.

The summit included with the panel discussion themed - ‘Emerging Technologies To Create Newer Markets’. While the first discussion focused on the impact of data policy frameworks, challenges and opportunities emerging from AI and ML, Autonomous Vehicles, Data Security, security for IoT, and how the convergence of CIO and CMO partnerships are evolving to develop a collaborative relationship. The panel plunged on the technical challenges associated with security in verification and validation. Some of India’s most valued dignitaries including Mr. Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director, South Asia- NVIDIA, Mr. M. Arun Kumar, EDR – R&D, ITI Ltd., Mr. Sridhar Saranathan-CIO and Head of e-Gov-Karnataka, Mr. Byju Pillai, President & CEO-In-Flow Technologies, Mr. Sunil Sharma, M.D.(Sales)- Sophos Mr. Harsha N, Enterprise Business Development Manager-WESTERN DIGITAL and Mr. Murugan E, Regional Director- ESDS Datacenters and 40 CIOs and 60 VARs ( System Integrators and Solution partners) attended the discussions and debated on various technology innovations and challenges that have been exponentially increasing, particularly with Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning.

The panel discussion also brought out the emphasis on addressing security aspects of the new applications at all levels of Hardware and Software abstraction with the paced emergence of autonomous cars, IoT and 5G wireless connectivity. The discussion further highlighted the increasing need to address specific technical challenges on emerging applications, such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Block chain.

Speaking on the initiatives, Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA said, “India has huge technological talent and It is true that emerging and disruptive Technologies are Creating Newer Markets. For this I think both CIO and CMO alignment drives business growth, The C-suite collaborations is becoming one of the most important when it comes to delivering the kind of digital experiences that customers demand”.

Deepak further emphasised on how “Disruption Is About Experiences”. They Just happen to be enabled by technology. It is like Businesses that find a way to better solve individual and collective challenges and use tech layers to implement those solutions.

It’s impossible to predict exactly which trends will become the most disruptive in 2019. That being said, there are a number of developments that have and will continue to shape business strategies. From automation to sustainability, organizations are adapting to a whole new wave of consumer preferences.

He also said that Chinese and American companies who are facing strong headwinds in each other’s markets and winning in a large country like India can be a game changer for both sides, “especially if you believe data is the new oil”. He also spoke about VARINDIA’s identification of Top 10 Emerging /disruption technologies which are expected to disrupt the industry further.

Kicking off the discussions, Vishal Dhupar, M.D, South Asia- NVIDIA said “The opportunity in the mobile cloud era is much more bigger than the PC era, capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning (DL). AI application is running on a device such as autonomous vehicle performing real-time collision avoidance or a drone making real-time path planning decisions, latency becomes critical for vehicle safety. Power efficiency is equally important since these vehicles may have to go days, weeks or months between recharging. Lastly, the future of Next generation product development would revolve around Artificial intelligence and Machine learning.

Adding to the discussion on Emerging technologies, Mr. Arun Kumar, EDR – R&D, ITI Ltd said, “ITI Limited, is the country’s first telecommunications PSU of post-independence and premier telecom manufacturing company in the country. ITI has bagged many important projects and including the orders in pipeline. ITI hopes to reach an order book of INR 22,000 crore in the coming 2 to 3 years.

Under the leadership of Mr. K Alagesan, CMD- ITI has also entered into an agreement with Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) for establishment of state-of-the-art telecom testing labs at its Bengaluru plant to facilitate mandatory testing of imported and indigenous telecom equipment in India. ITI has also partnered with 50 start-ups and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) covering the manufacturing of a wide range of ICT and IoT-based solutions”.

Arun Kumar also spoke about Project leading capabilities by ITI, R&D in ITI for various projects and Upcoming Networks for Army and also about first Indigenous Crypto system for Indian Army for securing the communication networks of Indian Defence forces. AI and IoT is creating newer revolution in the technology era.

He further added, “We are talking about IoT but I would say the future of computing is Quantum technology and Quantum computing. Not only India and but across the world, Bengaluru is named as the leader in this Quantum Technology and this is going to be the future”.

Speaking on the theme of the event, three corporate houses presented thier prospective including Mr. Harsha N, Enterprise Business Development Manager from WESTERN DIGITAL, spoke on how digital transformation is happening through Data and at the same time how it is creating environments for data to thrive and creating a data driven economy and how Western Digital become the global leader in storage technology with $19.1 billion dollar.

Mr. Murugan E, Regional Director- ESDS Datacenter spoke on how Newer technologies are bringing newer opportunities in the age of cloud and Mr. Sunil Sharma, M.D.(Sales), Sophos spoke on how the security

landscape and growing importance in the digital era and at the same time and how these newer threats are impacting the industry. He also spoke about how SOPHOS brings newer opportunities for securing enterprises.

The event witnessed the participation of CIOs from various industries. The attendees include Mr. Subbarao Hegde, CIO Index USA/Director, Apon India; Mr. Krishna M S, Head-IT Toradex Systems Indi Pvt. Ltd; Mr. Senthil N, Director IT & CIO, Sun Innovation Systems Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. J.M.Priyadarshan, Vice President, Neo Values Solutions; Mr. Raghunath Thiyagarajan, Director - Infrastructure Service & Cloud Practice; Mr. Nandkishore Dhomne, VP-IT & CIO- Manipal Health Enterprises; Mr. KRC Murthy, V.P., Head of RTB-IT- Kotak Mahindra Bank; Mr. Arvind Kumar, Director-IT- Elior India Catering LLP; Mr. Ajay Bakshi, Chief Digital Officer & SVP-Aegis BPO & KPO; Mr. Jai Thomas, Head IT Infra & Operations - Dailyhunt (Versé Innovation Pvt ltd); Mr. Himanshu Rastogi, CIO, Medi Assist; Mr. Prashant Kumar, Head-IT- Alstom India; Mr. Raman Pillai, G.M, Ather Energy; Mr. Chirag Boonlia, VP-IT, Virtuous Retail Services Pvt. Ltd; Mr. Paul Raj M, GM & IT Head-Puravankara limited; Mr. Harish H S, Principal Consultant-Hanvik Infosec; Mr.Ramesh V, Technical Head, IT Department Karnataka State Financial Corporation; Mr. Ganesh Ramachandra, CIO, UST Software India Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. Ramesh Subramaniam, Director-Technology, DXC Technology; Mr. N. Balasubramanian, General Manager & Head of IT, Cloudnine Group of Hospitals; Mr. Manish Shah, GM-IT, Gokaldas Exports; Mr. Hariharan Subramani, VP-IT, Shriram Properties Ltd.; Mr.Vasudevan R, CIO, Aster CMI Hospital; Girish Kulkarni, CIO - Cytech Care Hospital, Mr. Sandeep Panda, CEO- InstaSafe and Mr. Uday Bhaskhar Rao, M.D.- I Ram Technologies.

The panel discussion session was based on various topics related to Data Policy frameworks in India. AI and ML are changing the way that gets done all over the world and expect a multimodal transport platform to emerge. Various companies are building multimodal platforms, furthering the cause of transportation to a whole new level.

The installation of smart sensors and the application of data analytics will deliver further steps towards the factory of the future. The wider use of automated processes powered by AI, advanced robotics, and IoT connectivity will contribute to realizing the ambitions of Industry 4.0. Otherwise known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Lucky Draw:

The Q & A session witnessed the discussions on how infotainment is on the brink of major evolution with the next global megatrend being seamless connectivity between smartphones and automobiles. Disruption is all about creating a better experience.

VARINDIA’s annual Tech Summit is a comprehensive platform dedicated to sharing knowledge & best practices and initiating dialogues on innovation and disruptive technologies, through events, such as the Tech Talk and Panel discussion sessions. In its essence, Tech Summit aims to promote the spirit of innovation and empower VARs and partners to connect and learn from industry veterans.