Issue 20 | Feb 2012-Apr 2012 the Information Quarterly from Microsoft

Interface Issue 20 | Feb 2012-Apr 2012 The Information Quarterly from Microsoft Now is... ThiThT s magaagag zine is prinr ntedteede onon reecyccycycledleed papaperpep Perspective Issues thatmatter Issue 20|Feb-Apr2012 Being open intheCloud VIEWPOINT National e-Governance Division, DIT, GoI Division,DIT, National e-Governance Ajay Sawhney, President & CEO, &CEO, President Ajay Sawhney, Q&A The InformationQuarterly fromMicrosoft Evolving an Opennessagenda Evolving TECH TRENDS Contents Contents Editorial 2 Tech Trends 10 Evolving an Openness agenda Q&A 18 Chairman’s 3 Today, the Openness movement “We see many advantages Message at Microsoft is developer- in making use of focused, involves real technologies that adhere participation in Open Source to Open Standards.” projects, and represents a In Focus 4 —AJAY genuine commitment to working Openness: Building SAWHNEY, with Open Source communities. bridges across President & Perspectives takes a look at technologies CEO, National Microsoft’s journey in the When technologies within e-Governance domain of Openness, the several organizations cannot connect Division, DIT, GoI easily, the complexity and cost milestones it has crossed and of operating and supporting why it spells a change in the environments with large numbers company’s attitude and approach of different systems, also goes to customers. up exponentially. This can only be overcome when hardware and software vendors build their products to support ‘Openness.’ In this section, Perspective also Case Studies 21 talks to James Utzschneider, Microsoft’s Worldwide General Manager on Openness and what News 25 it means to global companies. Viewpoint 15 Being open in the Cloud Mandar Naik of Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. examines the advantages that the Cloud brings to the customer table, discussing how these benefi ts would be greatly reduced if the Cloud were to be an isolated and closed platform, instead of the open and interoperable one it is today. MICROSOFT INTERFACE | AUG-OCT 2011 1 Editorial Providing a perspective on Openness and its growing value to customers look at current day organizations reveals that their key priority is to Amaximize their existing IT investments, while having the freedom to choose new solutions that support their business goals. At the same time, they are keenly looking at how they can manage their mixed technology environments with effi cient and cost-effective systems. Taking into account this need, Perspective decided to focus on one of the most important trends defi ning the customer landscape today— Openness. Customers in the IT space need products that have been designed keeping Openness at the core, which means they have embraced leading industry standards, are interoperable with other products, and are open in the Cloud. In this issue, we provide you an overview of Openness, what it means for 21st century customer organizations and what technology providers In this issue, we need to do to shape their product portfolios, so that they refl ect and take into account this crucial client need. provide you an overview of Openness, We examine how Microsoft has been ‘walking the talk’ on Openness, what it means for and how transformation within the organization has meant that it has 21st century customer become an important proponent of open environments. From making organizations and investments in standards (and making HTML 5 the core programming what technology model for Windows 7 and 8 and IE 9 and 10); building partnerships with providers need to do Open Source communities, such as the PHP, Apache, and Linux; and working to enable open source on its platforms (such as supporting PHP, to shape their product Node.js, and Java on Windows Azure); Microsoft has been leading the way. portfolios, so that they refl ect and take into In this issue, apart from the Microsoft viewpoint, we bring you the Indian account this crucial government’s perspective on Openness, especially examined against the client need. backdrop of the roll-out of e-governance services in the country. We also bring you case studies, both global and Indian, to show how Microsoft is enabling clients to derive the benefi ts arising from open technologies. Gauri Arora Editor, Perspective [email protected] 2 MICROSOFT PERSPECTIVE | FEB-APR 2012 Chairman’s Message Openness is key to deliver more freedom, choice and value to customers t is a period of great change for the world. Economic volatility, the I emergence of new markets, and alterations in business models and paradigms, are all challenging the old order. This trend is getting refl ected within the technology realm too, where traditional is giving way to cutting-edge, and yet demanding that they both co-exist. Today, most organizations, including government, public and private companies, are struggling with concerns related to IT obsolescence, safeguarding existing computing investments, and integrating them with new tech. They want to continue to leverage the old, while harnessing the power of what is coming up on the technological horizon. There is a growing realization among both customers and vendors that Openness is the way to make this happen. Openness as we know, is achieved when technologies conform to standards evolved by global standards-setting bodies, when they take into account the IT needs of The shift to cloud customers, and when they extend this Openness and interoperability to the Cloud environment. computing, the consumerization of In recent times, the shift to cloud computing, the consumerization of IT in the enterprise, IT in the enterprise, and open data/open government directives have and open data/ created an environment that attaches greater meaning and importance open government to Openness as an attribute. Customers themselves are not only directives have created demanding speed and relentless innovation, but above all, Openness. an environment Many tech infl uencers, press, analysts and customers believe that this that attaches is indeed the emerging scenario. How ‘open’ or ‘closed’ a company is greater meaning perceived to be, versus its competitors, is a key factor in the decision- and importance making process among CIOs, government functionaries, and developers. to Openness as an attribute. At the end of the day, customers managing a mixed IT environment will simply want all of it to work together. This is how the world is being envisaged today, and in the future, and this is the environment that several technology organizations, including Microsoft, have geared up for, and are actively addressing. Bhaskar Pramanik Chairman, Microsoft India MICROSOFT PERSPECTIVE | FEB-APR 2012 3 InIn FocusFocus OPENNESS Building bridges across technologies 4 MICROSOFT PERSPECTIVE | FEB-APR 2012 In Focus ake the family of the Aroras. T Their son Amit was recently talking about his experience in While historical investment in IT remains a England, where he could not use key reason for today’s eclectic technology his cell phone, as his Indian plug did not fi t into the English socket. scenarios in companies, another reason This experience taught Amit that why different technologies exist within different systems don’t always work together. On the other hand, organizations is because customers want the digital camera that Amit took choice. They want to be able to pick up the on the trip, worked just fi ne. With its USB standard connector, he best technologies from different vendors to could hook the camera on to a serve their myriad needs. number of different systems to view and edit his pictures. He could install any software he everyone has committed to being organizations, with larger liked on it, use it to edit data and ‘open’ and using systems that enterprises remaining the early read exotic image fi le formats. ‘talk to each other.’ For instance, movers, and smaller and medium Interestingly, his images always when someone moves from companies following behind. came out exactly the same, no Kolkata to Mumbai, the two cities Private, public and government matter what printer he used automatically exchange residency sectors have all gravitated for printing them. Globally data, and keep their listings towards technology, investing distributing his snaps was a snap current, even though each city uses in the state-of-the-art to gain on the Internet using diverse photo a different type of software, and effi ciency, productivity and portals. Amit understands now data format. bottomline benefi ts. that when different systems are specially designed to ensure easy Interestingly, the fi rst reference to Over the years, several different exchange of data, processes can be such ‘unity in diversity’ probably types of technologies have executed without interruption. appeared in Homer’s Illiad, the been purchased and updated famous Greek epic, said to be by organizations from different Let’s look at another example. written around the 8th Century vendors. This has led to IT Amit’s father’s company does B.C. Homer referred to Chimera, environments that are a mixed e-commerce online and the online a strange beast with the head of bag of the old and the new, where store has been set up to forward a lion (in the front), the head of a legacy systems rub shoulders incoming orders to the company’s goat (in the middle), and the head with cutting-edge hardware, inventory control system. This of a snake (for a tail). software platforms, products of data is then transferred to the Open Source communities, and production systems or processed The fi re breathing Chimera, an spanking delivery methodologies with offi ce productivity software, omen of shipwrecks and volcanic such as the Cloud. that works on invoicing and eruptions appears to be a perfect fi nancial reporting. The order example of a biological system, While historical investment in IT data is fi nally forwarded to the where three different animals remains a key reason for today’s warehouse to be prepared for coexist in one form and their eclectic technology scenarios despatch.

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