Infosys in R&D tie-up with IIT-B, Monash Research Academy

Mumbai: The country’s second largest services and business process outsourcing firm Infosys Technologies has partnered with the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) and Monash Research Academy for research and development (R&D). Infosys is looking at R&D in the area of cloud computing and green data centres to start with. IIT-B and Monash Research Academy will work on two more areas of research, besides these, for Infosys.

Professor Mohan Krishnamoothy, CEO, IIT-B Monash Research Academy, said, “Besides Infosys, there are four more foundation partners namely Shell, BHP Billiton, Australia Stem Cell Center, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Each of these foundation partners is expected to invest Aus $1 to 2 million over a period of 3-5 years.”

Krishnamoothy added, “The cloud computing and green data centers are two important areas of research for Infosys. We would be working on issues around managing the data centers efficiently and with energy conservation, usage patterns that require disciplines like mathematical, architectural, algorithmic, energy systems and computer sciences.” In cloud computing, the areas of concern for Infosys are of issuing scheduling of tasks and storage of data. Besides these, the academy would be working on two more areas of research for Infosys but these are still under discussions, he added.

NR Narayana Murthy, chairman, research advisory council of The IITB-Monash Research Academy and chairman of the board and chief mentor, Infosys Technologies, said, “The

research at this academy is expected to contribute significantly in making the Indian industry stronger and contributing to solving problems of the Indian and Australian nationals.”

The academy is also expected to partner a hardware manufacturer that is largely looking at research in authentication and scheduling of processes in multiprocessor environment through network monitoring. “We are also working at mobile computing for rural environment that will bring delivery of fast Internet in the available spectrum. We will also place some sensors in the field that will capture the data (on climate conditions) and it can be then pushed instantly to the farmers. So largely, these two solutions will bring a lot of value to the mobile functions,” said Krishnamoothy. Besides Infosys, Krishnamoothy feels firms with strong R&D base in Australia like Cisco, Microsoft, HP and IBM could look at partnering with the academy.

The academy has taken three batches already and has about 31 PhD students.

-The Financial Express.