OITF’15 – A Convergence of Big Ideas

(From Left to Right): Mr. B K Dash, Director of Industries - Govt. of Odisha; Mr. A K Mohanty, MD - Tatwa Technologies; Mr. M V Vikram Kumar - Manager Regional Sales, Cisco Systems; Mr.Deepak Kumar Sahu, Chief Editor, VARINDIA; Dr. Omkar Rai, Director General, STPI; Mr. Prabhakar Rout,Vice-President-UCCI; Comomodo J Jena, Director-TCOE; Mr. M N Vidyashankar, President- India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA); Mr. R K Dash, Director-STPI, Bangaluru; Mr. Manas Ranjan Panda, Director-STPI, Bhubaneswar; Mr. Suvrendu Mitra, Regional Manager – East, Canon India  and Mr. Sandipan Ray, Director-Redefine Marcom   VARINDIA concluded its 7th edition of Odisha Information Technology Fair - OITF 2015 recently in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The event was attended by some of the known names from the corporate world (large and small companies in Odisha) and provided a platform for the IT industry to come together and discuss some of the key vital issues concerning the IT landscape in the state. The invitees to the event included IT honchos, industry leaders, VARs and senior officials from important verticals including Healthcare, Education, Government etc. The evening commenced with the ceremonial lamp lighting ceremony in the presence of high profile guests that included Shri B.K. Dash, Director of Industries-Govt. of Odisha, Mr. A.K. Mohanty, MD - Tatwa Technologies; Mr. M V Vikram Kumar - Manager Regional Sales, Cisco Systems; Dr. Omkar Rai, Director General, STPI; Shri Prabhakar Rout, Vice-President-UCCI; Comomodo. J Jena, Director-TCOE; Shri M. N. Vidyashankar, President- India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA); Mr. R K Dash, Director-STPI-Bangaluru; Mr. Manas Ranjan Panda, Director-STPI, Bhubaneswar; Mr. Suvrendu Mitra, Regional Manager – East-Canon India and Mr. Sandipan Ray, Director-Redefine Marcom besides Mr Deepak Kumar Sahu, Chief Editor, VARINDIA. Deepak Sahu, Publisher – VARINDIA while welcoming the Chief Guest, the Guest of Honor and other esteemed guests, made a special mention of the revolution that IoE would bring in the corporate world and eventually help enable a Digital India. “The world is changing at an unprecedented pace. In 2014 an estimated 77 billion apps had been downloaded worldwide while our digital universe continues to double every two years. In India an average of 5 million people join the Internet every month. More than ever before, the Internet of Everything can play an integral role in driving growth, innovation, and productivity in industries such as healthcare, retail, ecommerce and education.” MSME Secretary, Panchanan Dash in his speech emphasized on Odisha’s pioneering work in automation of processes for registration of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and how the tracking model has been adopted by the Centre. “Odisha had launched the online EM filing system for registration of new units as well as granting operational status to them in April last year which has been highly successful. The objective is to ensure that no entrepreneur has to visit the Department offices and meet officials. Online services delivery will bring in transparency into the system. It will also facilitate proper tracking and monitoring as we will have accurate database on the units. The new systems will be operational by the start of 2015-16 fiscal,” he said. In the second session of OITF’15, representatives from Canon and TCOE spoke about the importance of technology and solutions and the emerging opportunities in Orissa state through their presentations and speeches. However it was the panel discussion moderated towards the end that caught the attention of the decision makers and the intelligentsia from the ICT industry as it discussed clearly on ‘How Bhubaneswar could evolve and Transform into a Smart City’. The event also saw the 6 Regional VARs from Odisha being awarded in different categories of Best VAR, Best Partner for Software Services, Best Network Integrator, Best Reseller, Best System Integrator and Best Partner for Service Support.    

[caption id="attachment_1473245" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr. Omkar Rai, Director General, STPI presenting the inaugural address[/caption]	[caption id="attachment_1473244" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Comomodo. J Jena, Director-TCOE briefing the audience[/caption]	[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="150"] Mr. M. N. Vidyashankar, President,IESA addressing the event[/caption]
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="150"] Shri. Prabhakar Rout, Vice-President-UCCI addressing the audience[/caption]	[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Presenation by Mr. Suvrendu Mitra, Regional Manager– East-CANON India[/caption]	[caption id="attachment_1474240" align="alignright" width="150"] Shri. Panchanan Dash, Secretary MSME, Govt. of Odisha[/caption]
Award Cermony
[caption id="attachment_1474243" align="alignleft" width="150"] BEST Networking Integrator ODISHA Maple Computer Communication Pvt Ltd[/caption]	[caption id="attachment_1474244" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Reseller ODISHA Nigama Comptech Services Pvt. Ltd[/caption]	[caption id="attachment_1474249" align="alignright" width="150"] Best Service Support, ODISHA - HP INDIA[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1474255" align="alignleft" width="150"] BEST-Software-Services-ODISHA-Tristar-Software-and-Solutions-Pvt.-Ltd[/caption]	[caption id="attachment_1474256" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Best System Integrator, ODISHA- Printlink Computer and Communication Pvt. Ltd[/caption]	[caption id="attachment_1474257" align="alignright" width="150"] BEST VAR, ODISHA 2014 - Ashirbad Computer & Services[/caption]

  Panel Discussion on "How Bhubaneswar could evolve and Transform into a Smart City" [caption id="attachment_1474258" align="aligncenter" width="589"] Panel-discussion-session-being-moderated-by-Mr.-D.K.sahuChief-editorVARINDIA[/caption] Deepak Sahu, Chief editor – VARINDIA (inset) moderated the discussion and the panelists included (from Left to Right) Shri. M. N. Vidyashankar, President- IESA; Cmdr. J Jena, Director- TCOE; Shri B K Dash, Director of Industries-Govt. of Odisha; Mr. M V Vikram Kumar - Manager Regional Sales, Cisco Systems; Mr. Arun Kumar Dey, President- ITAO and Mr. A K Mohanty, MD - Tatwa Infotech   [caption id="attachment_1474261" align="alignright" width="150"] During the Q & A Session[/caption] In line with the Smart City program launched by the Government of India that aims to build 100 smart cities, VARINDIA organized a panel discussion that deliberated on how Bhubaneshwar can be transformed and evolve as a smart city. Shri. M. N. Vidyashankar, President- IESA opened up the discussion by briefly explaining that Bhubaneshwar can be eminently placed as a smart city but before that the problems that need to be tackled with have to be identified and then find them a solution. According to him, at least 3 of the very important sectors should be ICT-enabled. For instance an ambulance carrying a patient in a jam packed street can take help of an intelligent transportation system like in western countries. Here every ambulance will be equipped with a chip and 500 metres before the ambulance approaches a signal, it automatically will become green. Similar solutions can be thought of in areas of energy, water and healthcare. Cmdr. J Jena, Director- TCOE pointed out to a few issues that are fundamental to an urban living like making available potable water, smart sanitation system, efficient transportation and communication system, adequate Security & surveillance which will help a citizen make a smarter decision. Shri B K Dash, Director of Industries-Govt. of Odisha explains that the concept of Smart city can be seen in 2 ways – one is to have a smarter life and the other to provide smarter infrastructure to lead a smarter life. The role of MSME can be both in rolling out and contributing to the world-class infrastructure of a smart city as also growing it. The only concern here is the investment, in the absence of which you cannot think of any innovativeness. The Govt. has to take pro-active steps to roll out these citizen-centric services and maintain a synergy with the public. Throwing some light on the role played by technology in this area, Mr. M V Vikram Kumar - Manager Regional Sales, Cisco Systems said that building a Smart city should at the foremost enhance the quality of life of a citizen, they being able to access the smart services provided by the government in real time. Technology can enable in a big way to get these services delivered to the citizens and they in turn accessing them with the help of smart devices. However, if all these services are integrated together under one umbrella, the time taken to deliver these services will be much lesser. Mr. Arun Kumar Dey, President- ITAO observes that in a smart city there can be a lot of opportunity for an IT player, since everything has to be smart right from Healthcare, infrastructure, Transportation to water and Energy. There also has to be some citizen friendly policies and strategies on the part of the government in order to make the Smart city concept a success. Mr. A K Mohanty, MD - Tatwa Infotech feels that for a city to become smart, it should be wi-fi enabled and secondly there should be uninterrupted power supply. Data would play a big role here as every element within it will be connected to each other. However, to realize the dream of a smart city, there are still lots of things to do and lot of opportunities to tap. The discussion thus concluded that while creating technologically-connected urban spaces is vital for India to realize its potential in the twenty first century, it is also vital that the Nation’s Smart Cities are able to withstand challenges of the twenty first century. Technically smart cities should learn to self-heal, recovering quickly from the stresses and shocks with minimal disruptions to life, livelihoods and economy.

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