'Create smart environment to beat slowdown'

By K.T. Jagannathan

CHENNAI, SEPT. 4. What goes up must necessarily come down. Ask the Indian information technology industry. It will vouch for this law of gravity. Many in the industry have cited the U.S. slowdown as the principal cause for the current plight. Still others blame the thrust on `contract service' for the predicament of the domestic software industry. What does the future hold for the IT industry?

Well, the morrow depends on our ability to create smart environment, feels Prof. S.V. Raghavan of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras.

What is a smart environment? It is one which facilitates even a lay person to handle technology tools with ease. ``Unless India adopts technology at that level, it will be difficult to take the step forward,'' he says. An illustration will put things in perspective. More often than not when one loses his pen, he indulges in a wild goose search. In a technology-driven environment, this should not happen. When you yell ``Where is my pen'', the pen should shout back and say ``I am here''. ``This is the kind of problem you need to solve for tomorrow,'' says Prof. Raghavan. If one needs to stay put in knowledge society, he needs to take a hard look at this technology problem. In his reckoning, this does not require too much grounding in technology. What it needs is a little bit of thinking.

Essentially, the Government should aim at creating a smart environment which facilitates adaptation of systems that are self-adjusting in nature. How can this be done? Simply by developing tools that recognise systems and understand products. Perhaps, the use of multimedia can facilitate this.

According to Prof. Raghavan, the Indian IT industry has largely been engaged in service contracts. This has proved its undoing. In such contracts, specifications are laid out by the client. Since specifications are owned by someone else, it raises IPR (intellectual property rights) issue. If we are to avoid IPR- related problems, he feels India needs to look at product segment. The marketing of products is easier said than done in view of the tough competition in the international market. Further, the country does not have a hardware base of any substance.

What are the options for India? Prof. Raghavan says the software talent can be better nurtured by focusing on embedded systems in VLSI (very large system integrator) production base. ``The technology in embedded systems is very mature. This can be done here in India and sold globally. And, it can be absorbed by people who produce systems or software of higher variety,'' he says. This will not only push the industry onto a higher value orbit but also help control the specification. ``If we do this, IPR will be controlled and hence fetch more money,'' he explains.

Years ago, ``one measure rice per one rupee' slogan had proved a winning one in Tamil Nadu. None, however, talks of ``ten paise per telephone call''. For this to happen, the scope of telephone deployment should be expanded so as to reach as many people as it could. A smart environment can help do this. An environment which facilitates people to use telephone easily, will trigger a bandwidth revolution in the country. Do you need a pen that shouts? Do we require a phone that stops ringing when ordered to shut up? There can be an endless debate on this. The fact of the matter, however, is laying the ground for a smarter environment will open up immense opportunities for the talented Indian IT industry to look at embedded systems as a commercial gold mine.

Not surprisingly, Prof. Raghavan wants smartness embedded into the entire education system. How to impart smartness into the education system? That should be the primary goal of policy planners, he feels. Surely, he will wish smartness built into research funding as well.

Well. The message is clear for the Indian IT industry. Put aside contract service. And, move over to the area of micro miniaturising.

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