Recently I read with great pride that in 2014 India received the third highest venture capital funding among countries and Bengaluru was fifth in cities globally that received the most funding. When we celebrated our 66th Republic Day in January, it was a wonderful feeling to reflect on what we have achieved in the technology industry in the country. It’s just over 30 years since the first technology revolution in India began with the success of Indian companies providing IT services to companies globally. Today the Indian IT services industry is a $118 billion industry. India is home to 5000+ companies and 750+ MNCs, according to Nasscom.
3 million direct jobs and 9.5 million indirect jobs have been created in India through this technology revolution and yet the impact of the technology industry has been far more. Technology is providing millions of entrepreneurs and thousands of companies with opportunities to address needs and overcome problems. Think about the millions of man-hours saved with close to half of all reserved train tickets booked online. Look at how companies like Flipkart are bringing modern retail to smaller cities in the country by creating reliable supply chains and innovative payment models.
Cisco celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and has seen the power of the Internet transform businesses and modernize economies. We have been in India since 1995; at that time less than 1 percent of the world’s population was connected on the Internet. Today 40% of the world is connected and India is adding an average of 5 million Internet users a month. We believe that we have the opportunity for a second technology revolution in India.
Through the government’s Digital India program, infrastructure will be offered as a utility to every citizen, governance and services will be on demand and citizens will be digitally empowered. India is home to the world’s largest talent pool: 4.7 million graduates and postgraduates according to Nasscom. Imagine what happens when entrepreneurs and companies start to better address unmet needs and challenges in the country.
Cisco is excited to help enable the vision of a Digital India. The foundation of a Digital India will be the intelligent connection of people, process, data, and things. We will see companies digitize and the country digitize: street lights, parking spaces, kiosks, sensor-based water defences and smart energy grid services. The Digital India vision holds the potential of a second technology revolution in India where everything and everyone can be connected
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TOday’s applications are migrating on to the cloud and there is lot of challenges on the security of the data.
Please share some of the practical issues that you might have come across with the solutions for the same or may be some of the challenges you might be facing while unifying data on the network/cloud and security.
Also brief on the security features implemented from a layman point of view.
The Digital India idea is great and practical. But has the framework been calibrated yet? Here are a few thoughts:
-Skilled workforce needs to be created for successful delivery of IoT based System Integration projects. We haven’t started this journey yet.
-Incubation centers need to be set up for testing Digital India solutions and driving innovations in these areas. Cisco can play a lead role here.
-Key Citizen Services (8 or 9 of them) must be automated. IoT will play an important role here.
-Analytics support must be set up in a federated way.
As a Cisco Alumni, I believe Cisco has the wherewithal to be a leader in the above segments.
With CISCO’s 30 years presence & dominance in India, in communication & network area, we would like to see some concrete ideas, reg Digital India with some real stories as examples. Not just general writeup.
I am an entrepreneur with ever green ideas in the field of satellite and cable tv industry.I am an engineering drop out who dared to travel in non conventional path.
I believe in the thought of JRD Tata who said,” Nothing worthwhile is ever achieved without deep thought and hard work.”Also, “No success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile unless it serves the needs or interests of the country and its people and is achieved by fair and honest means. ”
Iam waiting and rearing to implement ideas which will benefit the society and my country.
I will glad to exchange my ideas and take them forward in the right ecosystem and environment.
Thanks .