"We look at growing"

What is MSIDC doing now?

MSIDC started operations in 1998 with 20 people and today it has grown to 1300 people working on new products and technologies for the global Microsoft portfolio. We have filed over 180 patents in the last three years from MSIDC having end to end responsibility on more than 50 Microsoft products, features or technologies shipped to a global clientele. About 300 people from MSIDC, developed and shipped important features for Vista. Data protection manager V2 supports protection of files, exchange, SQL, SharePoint and Virtual Servers are fully developed at IDC. We have filed 80 patents in 2007 itself.

Currently what are the projects you are working on?

We are working on lot of technologies. Some of them are in the areas of RFID, enterprise networking, virtualization, applets and gadgets, SQL compat WinSe and Visual studio team test.

What is TechXchange? Can you explain your relationship with Microsoft Research (MSR) on this?

TechXchange is a platform for MSIDC and MSR India to showcase technologies, share knowledge, explore common interests and deepen the collaboration.

We are looking at making in the lines of TechFest, which Microsoft conducts in the US. This is the first time we have organized this TechXchange and we are looking at making this as an annual event. This time over 1000 employees witnessed 50 demos and posters with seven talks.

Which are the areas that you would be collaborating with MSR India on TechXchange?

MSR India and MSIDC have already been collaborating on productization of innovations such as Multipoint. Multipoint enables multiple input devices such as mice and keyboards on a PC simultaneously, thus allowing a number of people using computer simultaneously. Further to this we have identified four areas to work with. It would be on software engineering, multilingual systems, mobility and networks and technologies for emerging markets.

Which are the products showcased as part of TechXchange?

We are showcasing over 20 products. Some of these products have just launched and some are yet to launch. Likewise some of the projects such as wikibabel, Machine Translation, Text free UI for illiterate users have been developed by MSR India. Some of the other products such as WifiAds, Duet, Biztalk RFID and Live meeting have been developed by MSIDC.

Can you explain wikiBabel, wifiAds, Duet and Text free UI for illiterate users?

Wikibabel is a research prototype that has been built using the machine translation system, which provides translation for any page over the web in about 30 different languages instantly and lets users correct any mistranslations in a wiki-ish method. Similarly, WifiAds is a new approach for distributing location sensitive advertisements to Wi-Fi devices, which relies on a clever use of certain features of the Wi-Fi protocol to put out ads to clients in the vicinity of a network. It does not require the client to have Internet connectivity and it also allows advertisers to supply dynamic information to consumers in real time.

For example, a restaurant can continuously advertise the expected wait time to all wireless clients in its vicinity. Duet is a software solution from SAP and Microsoft that enables users to easily and quickly interact with SAP business process and data using MS office environment. The goal of the text free user interfaces for non literate and semi literate users is to devise and implement design principles such that non-literate person can, at first contact with the PC can realize and can interact with minimal or no assistance. Through extensive ethnographic study in slums, we arrived at several design principles that could apply to many non-literate groups new to computer use.

Is MSIDC working on search and surface computing?

A small group is working on search technology, but we are not working on surface computing.

What is the roadmap for MSIDC?

As I have said we started with 20 people to reach 1300 people. We look at growing. At the same time, I cannot give any numbers on how many people we add. We do need people and we hire people as requirement increases. We aim at working larger products and technologies.