IEEE Cloud Computing Conference stresses on innovations

BANGALORE, INDIA: IEEE Cloud Computing, a key initiative of the world's largest technical professional association, hosted its second international conference in Bangalore, India.

The three-day dynamic IEEE Cloud Computing for Emerging Markets Conference held in Bangalore from 16th to 18th October, 2013 provided a platform for all the key stakeholders involved in the Indian Cloud eco-system to discuss on the innovations, challenges and opportunities for the emerging Indian cloud computing markets.

Kris Gopalakrishnan, executive vice-chairman, Infosys, unveiled a White Paper on "Roadmap for Cloud computing innovation in India" and inaugurated the conference. IEEE Cloud Computing is uniquely qualified and positioned to play a leading role in the development of cloud computing globally and to help, guide and shape its future.

He said: "The government must support by use of cloud in e-governance, making regulations to promote cloud and taking leadership in cloud related standards and policies. Also, academics should include cloud in the curriculum, as cloud computing is the way computing will be in the future."

Emphasizing on the opportunities perspective, he illustrated: "The advantages of a central Electronic Health Records System (EHR) on Cloud are, it can be accessed by the hospitals, doctors, R&D organizations and insurance companies, with the permission of the patient. Government can also use the data to build statistics on particular ailments."

"CCEM is a vital platform for all the stakeholders in the Indian Cloud eco-system to discuss on the challenges and opportunities in the emerging Indian Cloud computing markets," said Kathy L Grise, Future Directions, senior program director, IEEE Cloud Computing Initiative. "With the rapid adoption of Cloud in India, we are happy to host the second edition of CCEM in Bangalore with the pro-active participation from government, academia and industry, following the grand success of CCEM 2012."

Sethumadhavan Srinivasan, director - Strategy & Corporate Marketing, Huawei Telecommunications (India) Co. Pvt Ltd, one of the sponsors, said: "The CCEM summit has clarified ambiguities on the subject and addressed blue-sea opportunities for telcos and enterprises to monetize on Cloud services. While telcos emerge out of walled garden approach to focus on user-centric cloud platforms and unified billing, it will create a pull-effect on Content and OTT players for collaboration, leading to new multi-sided revenue models.

"We expect this trend to lead the recovery of the Indian telecom industry and lay a strong foundation for growth of mobile internet services. Huawei advocates a platform-based approach for multi-media services, fostering an open and co-operative ecosystem."

Well-known speakers at the conference included Dr. Anurag Srivastava, senior VP and CTO, Wipro; Manish Israni, Infrastructure head, Vodafone India; Gautham Mago, principal, Sequoia Capital India; Dr. Fausto Bernardini, VP and distinguished engineer, Cloud Managed Services, IBM USA; Dr. Anand Deshpande, founder chairman and MD, Persistent Systems among others.

The Startup showcase & Demo sessions had enthusiastic participation from NanoBI Analytics, Impel CRM, Cloud Munch, i7 Networks, IDOS, Researching Souls, Cloud Byte Inc., Cloud Munch, Wolken Software Private Limited, Knowlarity, TAL Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, {Fix}nix, Manjrasoft.

The IEEE CCEM conference had a mix of invited expert talks, high-level panel discussions, poster session, Startup showcase & demo sessions and peer reviewed papers with a truly distinguished array of personalities from industry, academia and government from across the world. All these aligned with the theme that focused on cloud based innovations in the emerging market, opportunities in the rapidly growing Indian cloud market, issues and challenges, security and compliance issues, market oriented cloud computing and the role of standards.

The IEEE Cloud Computing Initiative leads the way by collaborating across the interested IEEE societies and groups for a well-coordinated and cohesive plan in the areas of big data, conferences, education, publications, standards, intercloud testbed, and dedicated web portal. The event made its mark on with around 150 distinguished members from across the world.