As Intel India marks 20 years of its presence in the country, the company has evolved into a largest research and development hub outside of USA from being a small technology centre initially. With close to Rs 30,000 crore investment in Intel India, the centre now stands critical for global company's growth too. Business Today spoke to Nivruti Rai, country head, Intel India, to discuss the nextgen revenue generators. Edited excerpts:
Q: You recently opened a new design facility in Bengaluru. How integral is the work that happens here to Intel globally and rate of adoption of the same across globe?
Nivruti Rai: It is not just a new design centre that we have opened, we are also doing the best cutting-edge work here, be it in the space of cloud, client, server or technologies like AI and 5G; we are doing it all here. There was a time when we were partners or contributors, but now we are fully engaged and can drive leading work, architecture, and complex designs for almost any segment of Intel. Intel has evolved into a data centric company, which means, whether you look at network, cloud, automotive, or internet of things (IoTs), we have our engagement in all these areas. Whether it's technologies like AI or block chain, Intel India is fully entrenched with the corporate and there is absolutely nothing that the global Intel can do and Intel India cannot. This tells you the level of maturity that we have and that we have also evolved over the last 20 years.
Q: Intel recently announced the launch of the 5G modem months ahead of its schedule. How do you see your Indian partners gearing up for 5G role out?
Nivruti Rai: We showcased our 5G solutions successfully in Korea and Japan Olympics. As far as India is concerned, we are leading a couple of consortiums and the goal is to partner with critical stakeholders, whether it is telecom service providers, the government for policymaking or our system integrators. We are looking at providing 5G solutions in India in time as compared to the rest of the world. In fact, BSNL has announced to deploy 5G by end-2019, and we will do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Do you see India 5G-ready by 2019 considering the fact that we still face basic problems with connection and 4G data?
Nivruti Rai: If we are making some progress on 5G, it doesn't mean work on 4G will stop. In fact, we are deploying certain technologies on 5G like 'Massive Mimo'. When we say 5G, we shall be looking at 10x lower latency, 100x more devices, 1000x more bandwidth, 1 million devices in 1 square kilometre, that tell you the density. We are looking at many technologies, be it Massive Mimo or Millimetre Waves to enable 5G. 4G and 5G technologies can simultaneously exist. In fact, some of these technologies can be tested on 4G to make it work on 5G. But I believe even countries like USA and Japan will be able to roll it out only by 2020. But at least some amount of implementation will happen in time by 2019.
What is the latest research and R&D that you are currently doing in India?
Nivruti Rai: A lot of AI innovation is happening out of India. The impact will be felt by everyone in segments like health, agriculture, and smart mobility. We have partnered with many governments to bring AI in these sectors. In smart mobility, we are looking at how to avoid collisions. On an average, 17 deaths happen in India every hour. We want to address such issues via technology. I'm excited about AI, and what 5G will do and also the ability of what analytics can do in cloud. All of this will be enabling revenue generation for us and I truly believe technology will enable the prime minister Narendra Modi's goal of doubling the economy in the next few years.
Which are the areas that Intel India is pursuing when it comes to innovation around smart cities, smart mobility and the likes?
Nivruti Rai: Just look at what happened in India's payment space! India never really got into credit cards. We were paying with cash and now digital wallets. We skipped the credit card phase. I believe we have a similar opportunity in smart mobility. The combustion engine can directly shift to electric or autonomous vehicle. I really think about the next generation. Intel will be heavily contributing in AI. Anything and everything will be smart. Whether it is the space or cloud or devices; all of it will be smart. AI will turn computer into a tool that will become a companion. You won't tell it what to do, but you would ask it what to do, and Intel will enable that.