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Lead
Infosys SETLabs: Milestones in innovation
Infosys’ research group builds IP assets in the areas
of software engineering, high performance and grid computing, convergence technologies
and information management, writes Vinita Gupta
 Infosys
believes that in order to stay ahead, companies should increase the speed of
innovation, be focused on the customer experience, understand their behavior,
and co-create with customers and partners. For Infosys, innovation is not just
about the ‘Eureka!’ moment, but also about executing on that moment
with a series of supporting innovations across processes and technologies.
Infosys recognized the importance of research way back in
1999, when it set up its research group called the Software Engineering and
Technology Labs (SETLabs). SETLabs has developed several process frameworks,
methodologies, service platforms and reusable knowledge objects that benchmark
Infosys’ predictability. The group employs over 500 researchers today.
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 "Labs,
Infosys Technologies
It is important to recognize that 46% of Infosys revenues come from services
that did not exist five years ago. SETLabs identifies the technology drivers
[that make this possible]"
- Subramanyam G V
VP and Head-Software Engineering and Technology
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Subramanyam GV, VP and Head-Software Engineering and Technology
Labs, Infosys Technologies said, “It is important to recognize that 46%
of Infosys revenues come from services that did not exist five years ago. SETLabs
identifies the technology drivers [that make this possible]. It also enables
Infosys to work with standards bodies on future technologies, share best practices
and maintain peer relationships with academic bodies, industry forums, conferences,
and journals.”
CoE to drive innovation
Infosys SETLabs has set up dedicated Centers of Excellence
(CoE) to drive efficiency and innovation by building overall capability and
tools, in addition to providing training and production support for solutions
by seeking inputs to improve delivery.
Infosys’ SETLabs CoE focuses on extending technology capabilities in the
areas of:
- Convergence: The Convergence CoE pursues
multiple R&D projects in pervasive computing. The CoE’s research
agenda adopts a gradual increase in the degree of pervasiveness of an IT infrastructure.
- Grid Computing: This CoE’s vision is
to create an adaptive services grid through service-oriented architectural
constructs and platform.
- SOA: This particular CoE pursues multiple
projects on a variety of practical topics related to SOA. It has created a
suite of methodologies, frameworks and accelerators to enable scalable and
customer-centric adoption of SOA and Web services.
- DW and BI: The Data Warehouse and Business
Intelligence CoE distills information from projects executed, identifies technology
trends and provides thought leadership.
- J2EE: This CoE helps enterprises realize
benefits of leveraging J2EE technology to realize the benefits of Java Enterprise
Technology.
- Microsoft Technology Center: This aids in
adoption of Microsoft technologies within Infosys and by its customers
- SETLabs was set up in 1999.
- Today it employs 500 plus researchers.
- It has developed several process frameworks,
methodologies, service platforms and reusable knowledge objects that
benchmark Infosys' predictability.
- It has built several IP assets in the
areas of software engineering, high performance and grid computing,
convergence technologies and information management.
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Wireless Sensor Networks
Infosys Elixir is a middleware for Wireless Sensor Networks. It allows organizations
to support and coordinate multiple applications in a single sensor network setup.
It consists of two parts—a part residing on the motes and another on the
server. The network can be configured in real-time by adding/removing motes,
to sense various parameters (e.g. temperature, pressure, etc.). It abstracts
the complexity of the network and provides a user-friendly interface that can
be used to program various applications.
Subramanyam said, “Infosys Elixir is useful for any industry where data
needs to be accessed remotely, like manufacturing, airlines, shipping, security,
etc. This could include high intensity temperature zones or high/low pressure
zones in any industry or even in ships that sail for long periods of time.”
Infosys Nimbus
This is based on the fundamental concepts of context-aware and pervasive computing.
It is uniquely characterized by ‘invisibility’, a fundamental characteristic
that provides a seamless, distraction-free and productive computing experience
to the end-user. It is context sensitive and understands the limitations and
strengths of different devices it works with to appropriately create customized
work environments for the user.
The essence is that “the task that the user is performing”
is the central and most important entity. It gives the user the flexibility
to keep working on these tasks effectively and seamlessly, irrespective of the
computing device and even remotely (using a mobile device).
| Semantic SOA |
Use of semantic Web and semantic
annotations for dynamism in SOA infrastructure |
| Dynamic Service Orchestration |
Linking SOA and BPM to achieve flexible business
processes |
| Service Optimization |
Optimizing the QoS by virtue of XML compression and
other optimization mechanisms |
| Service Adaptation |
Context-sensitive adaptation of services needs to
be viewed within the scope of infusing adaptation while maintaining the
immutability of service interfaces |
| Web 2.0 and SOA interplay |
The interplay of SOA with Web 2.0 and SOA, especially
in facilitating rich service consumers and dynamic collaboration |
| Service-Oriented Software Engineering |
Given the role of service as a first-class entity
in software engineering, how will software engineering be done in the services
world? |
| Service Quality |
While quality metamodels have been addressed in conventional
software architectures, how can these be defined and enacted in the services
world? |
Infosys Nimbus addresses three broad concepts:
- Task aware computing: The task-aware computing
paradigm that Infosys is proposing, basically talks about the need for designing
computing solutions, centered around the concept of the “task that the
user is performing” and then providing a computing fabric in such a manner
that the specific computing device that is being used to perform a task becomes
less significant and the focus is always on the user task. A significant ramification
of this concept is ‘computing device independence’—an essential
characteristic of true mobility.
- True anytime, anywhere computing: Nimbus
propagates the concept of truly ubiquitous systems, where the focus is on
enabling the execution of a user task—anytime and anywhere.
- Context-aware computing: The computing activity
should be context-aware. The behavior of an application in specific or a computing
system in general, should change with changes in the environmental context
in which a user is operating or in which the tasks are being executed.
- Has the ability to capture user tasks
onto your mobile device and be able to use this information for exchanging
such information between computing devices.
- Can seamlessly synchronize all of your
documents across multiple devices.
- Is capable of enabling a collaborative
work environment (including mobile users) for easy sharing of documents
and resources.
- Can remotely connect via a mobile device
to your enterprise PCs and perform specific application execution as
well management tasks like managing the desktop.
- Connects automatically to one's desktop
through Bluetooth user detection.
- Sends and receives SMS alerts between
your mobile device and your computers/servers and using such channels
to remotely manage tasks/administrating.
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Anytime, anywhere mobility
Infosys mConnect is a patent-pending middleware solution that is also based
on the fundamental concepts of context-aware computing. It allows for true anytime,
anywhere mobility realized by a system designed around the tasks that a user
performs rather than the computing devices that he may use.
Essentially, the user can access online information e.g. portals irrespective
of the computing device he has. This means that the solution really understands
which mobile device is being used to access a particular site and adapts the
user experience accordingly. So, if you are accessing a banking site from a
high-end mobile phone, you will be allowed to view and access all the high-end
features of the portal and have a richer experience as opposed to when you access
the site using a low-end mobile phone where you may just be able to login to
view some basic features.
“With the booming cell phone market and increasing online usage through
mobile phones, this solution is a great tool in the hands of enterprises so
that they can reach all their users and independently create a unique user experience
for each user,” said Subramanyam.
Infosys mConnect is useful for any enterprise wishing to reach its end consumers
through a mobile application/ e-commerce, etc., for example banking, retail
etc.
Over the past two years the company has been working on these technologies.
Subramanyam revealed that these technologies are noteworthy because they address
practical issues in an innovative manner. They integrate disparate technologies
that have been available for some time, but have been lagging in terms of practical
applications. The other key point is that these technologies are extremely user-friendly
because they abstract complexity.
vinita.gupta@expressindia.com
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