Bangalore: Microsoft Research on 12 October announced a research and collaboration agreement with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Under this agreement, Microsoft Research is committed to providing funding and research expertise in the next two-three years to assist with major projects in life sciences research and advanced high-performance computing platforms based on Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003.

The pact is aimed at accelerating the scientific discovery process by increasing the computational power in scientific and engineering research. This is the first agreement it has signed in India as part of its global efforts to collaborate with leading institutions around the world in advanced computing for science and engineering.

"Our mission is to conduct state-of-the art research and apply technology to reduce the time to insights for scientific discovery and drive innovations. We aim to empower scientists by providing them advanced computing technologies across scientific domains," Microsoft Research Vice-President, External Research, Toney Hey told reporters.

Microsoft Research would collaborate with IISc on a project for biological data mapping and on another project on high performance applications using commodity clusters for scientific research, Hey said.

Prof Nagasuma Chandra on the faculty of Bioinformatics Centre at IISc, working on simulation of virtual cell in tuberculosis, said that with the development of advanced technical computational tools of Microsoft, the study of cells could be enhanced.

Source: PTI