HCL Technologies on Monday launched an incubation centre at its Redmond office, in partnership with Microsoft to build new solutions in the Internet of Things (IoT) space.
IoT is getting widely adopted across sectors where enterprises and government agencies are using it to monitor electricity meters, industrial machinery, leakages in oil pipelines and even in improving the efficiency of electrical grids.
HCL will use Microsoft’s Azure IoT range of products as a foundation for developing industry-specific solutions at the centre.
“One of the most transformative trends affecting businesses today is the Internet of Things. Together with HCL, we’re enabling companies to accelerate IoT adoption with industry-specific solutions that deliver greater business insights, new revenue models and speed return on investment,” said Susan Hauser, Corporate Vice-President, Business & Corporate Responsibility, Microsoft. “These capabilities are essential to creating greater impact and maintaining competitive advantage in the digital economy.”
Similar pact with IBM This is not the first such partnership for HCL. The company in September signed a similar partnership with IBM to jointly develop solutions such as smart inventory management, smart building and facilities management. The centre was built at HCL's Noida facility. HCL is also working with close to 15 IoT start-ups to either use latest technologies or to co-develop IoT solutions.
“HCL is taking the lead in the marketplace in winning business from customers and in also building the overall IoT ecosystem. This is second such partnership we've made with a large technology company but at the same time we are working with at least a dozen IoT startups to jointly develop solutions and products for various IoT solutions,” Sukamal Banerjee, EVP & Head of IoT WoRKS Business Unit, HCL Technologies, told BusinessLine .
Banerjee said the reason to select Redmond this time around to setup the IoT centre was because of talent acquisition. “We need a lot of data scientists for the IoT incubation centre and California is where you can easily find the best of data scientists in the world. Innovation in today’s world requires invention and execution. The ability to rapidly prototype and bring solutions to market is a key to enterprise success in a hyper-innovative global environment,” said Banerjee.