To discuss the issues and concerns of emerging wireless technologies, CIOs
and CTOs from enterprises and service providers across all verticals came
together at the event organized by Bharti Airtel and VOICE&DATA, 'Emerging
Wireless Access Technologies', at Ahmedabad and Indore.
During the panel discussion, various issues were discussed, and panelists
expressed their unique perspectives on the requirements of CIOs and CTOs.
Sriram TV, VP, Technology, Bharti Airtel, focused on the technological
aspect. According to him, different industries are expanding across the country
and for them connectivity is the main concern.
On Blackberry, Ashutosh Vasant, additional GM, Railtel Corporation of India,
said, “With the help of Blackberry, while traveling to office or coming back,
you can answer your mails. We are always in touch and can deliver our best.”
Talking about the time taken in deployment, Sheikhali Soyebali Barudawala,
GM, Enterprise Corporate, Bharti Airtel, said, “As a company, we have a
challenge to reach remote places. And as we have new technologies and tools with
time, people can use that to reduce time gaps.”
Responding on the security issues, RS Dhul, VP, IT, Bosch Rexroth India,
said, “As we are moving to WiMax and public domain technology, I don't know what
to do with security because when we are talking about enterprise and wireless,
security is going to be a real big issue.”
On wireless technology solutions, Niraj Garg, head, IT, Gujarat Cooperative
Milk and Uday Desai, head, Third Party Auditor, GSWAN, said that it can make
people's lives more challenging. Garg said, “Probably, wireless is a solution
for a location where there is no last mile connectivity. We are also working
with farmers, and 12,000 villages that we have to connect; wireless could be the
only solution.”
Ready for Discussion (From L-R): Panelists, including Ashish Vaidya of Ranbaxy; A Ramasubramaniam of Eicher; Uddesh Dassani of Apollo Hospital Enterprises; Amarendra Tripathi of Iprotech Solutions; Nilesh Maheshwari of Impetus Infotech; Baburajan K of VOICE&DATA Krishna Nayer of Impetus Infotech; Amlan Seth of ICICI Bank; Sanjay Nadkarni of Airtel; Ranvir Chaddha of Ruchi Infotech; and Abhijit Chandolkar of Dainik Bhaskar, at Indore |
Commenting on the pricing issue, BM Shah, CIO, Arvind Mills, said, “Cost is
not a relevant issue. What is important is that cost should be justified. The
main issue here is to quantify the gains that we are getting.”
Indore Event
The Indore event started with the welcome note by Saif Rehman, business
head, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, Bharti Airtel. The welcome note was
followed by two presentations given by Manish Dua, voice head, West, Airtel and
Sanjay Nadkarni, business head, NLD.
Talking about Blackberry services, Krishna Nayer, head, IT, Impetus Infotech,
said, “Today, if I don't have Blackberry with me, I feel something is missing.”
Responding to the question of challenges, Amerendra Tripathi, director,
Iprotech Solutions and Nilesh Maheshwari, associate director, Engineering
Wireless and Mobile Divison, Impetus Infotech, agreed that cost was a big
challenge. “The cost of solutions is a big challenge, and deployment and
maintaining technology is another big challenge. WiMax is a technology that can
provide huge amount of bandwidth to the end user. But the main concern is that
the device used by the end user is capable of extracting extra bandwidth made
available in using this technology.”
On major concerns of the banking sector, Amlan Seth, state head and chief
manager, MP&CG, ICICI Bank, said, “People will love to have all statements in
one book. But when they browse to find all these things on the mobile phone, it
takes lots of time. Secondly, connectivity is very slow.”
Voicing Concerns (L-R): Panelists, including Sheikhali Soyebali Barodawala of Airtel; Ashutosh Vasant of Railtel Corporation of India; Sriram TV of Airtel; Baburajan K of VOICE&DATA Uday Desai of GSWAN Monitoring System; BM Shah of Arvind Mills; RS Dhul of Bosch Rexroth India; and Niraj Garg of Gujarat Cooperative Milk, at Ahmedabad |
Ranvir Chadha, head, IT, Ruchi Infotech, said, “We have been using Wi-Fi and
WiMax for the last 3-4 years and we feel it is pretty good.” According to A
Ramasubramaniam, CEO, Eicher, availability, quality of service, and customer
service are prime concerns for any enterprise.
Sanjay Nadkarni, talking on the 3G technology, said, “Today, if we buy a new
handset, it will probably be 3G enabled. From service providers side, I feel
that we are still conservative because we don't have 3G license, 3G policy, or a
3G spectrum.”
On wireless technology, Ashish Vaidya, senior manager, System, Ranbaxy
Laboratories, said that companies look for quality of services, products and
solutions from the service provider. But at the same time, data security,
connectivity, and maximum uptime are major concerns.
On the use of wireless technology for hospitals, Udesh Dassani said, “In
India, we have one bed per thousand patients, so huge consultation is required
at the same time but at different places. In telemedicine, at present, the cost
is too high.”
Abhijit Chandolkar said, “The major concern area is the inventory management
of the ad space because everyone wants to advertise on premium pages. So what is
required today for us is the technology.”
Today, the biggest challenge for operators is to deliver quality and
error-free service. Providing connectivity in rural areas is another big
challenge.
Arpita Prem
arpitap@cybermedia.co.in