Sandeep Lodha, CEO, Tyrone Systems
In this week’s edition of Face 2 Face, we interview one of the leading HPC & Big Data company in Asia, Tyrone Systems’ CEO, Mr. Sandeep Lodha and understand the impact as well as implication of HPC, Big Data and Cloud in Asia and opportunities for Tyrone Systems.
Q1: How would you define Big data computing and how is it different than older data-centric applications — data warehousing, business intelligence, and so on?
Big data is based on principle of Four Vs viz; Volume, Variety, Velocity and Veracity. The technology such as Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence in traditional form does not conform to all of these and at the same time Big Data is defining all these in its own ways. The Volume of data is taking new highs and we do not see the flattening of the hockey stick growth any time soon, We get Variety from a wide spectrum of sources ranging from business data, to social media to machine generated data. All this data comes at a very high Velocity. Analyzing the Veracity of these data is some tough task, for example there may be millions of tweets related to a brand, but processing the relevant & contextual ones in accordance to the business scenario or objective/challenge and to make some sense out of it is a bit challenge. Important question is that what is the clear benefit of Big Data? My answer is reducing the cost, a decision support system, Improvement in services and products. These could be the clear goals for the business and there could be separate set of goals achieved by Governments and social organizations.
Q2: In your opinion is India ready for High performance computing? If yes which sectors are ready? And what should they look when they invest in HPC and Big Data and how can they measure RoI?
Question is not about India, it is about humanity, businesses, Government etc. Wherever we can do simulation, HPC can be deployed and benefit can be arrived by using HPC. Historically India has always aspired to take the route of knowledge supremacy and I guess HPC in particular and Big data too to some extent can help India gain supremacy as a global knowledge hub. Both HPC and Big data have separate lists as well have some common ones too. HPC is being used in designing potato chips to computer chips and baby diapers to new drugs in pharmaceuticals ( Not only effectively but also faster). We have been hearing that Oil won’t last us long enough, but HPC has made us realize that we are left with more oil than what has been taken out and is also assisting us to take more out of the existing sources. Automobile industry is able to design better cars at a much lower cost, they do not crash test various prototypes often and can do a simulated one instead. Entertainment industry has benefited tremendously, we could not have viewed “Gravity” or “Avatar” in absence of HPC. The list can go on and on.
Big Data is helping and it can further help Governments to devise effective policies for social schemes. It can offer a huge help in improving the security of a nation. Telecommunication companies have huge data at their end and they can devise much better services to optimize the sales in the given infrastructure. Online sales organizations can increase their sales with effectively recommending right products for their customers. Again the list here can go on.
Q3: Continuing with the above questions how can SMBs in India leverage Big Data and High performance computing, if at all they can? How should they adopt HPC and Big Data
To get the most benefit out of these technologies I do feel that SMBs will be the biggest beneficiaries and also the contributor. These are the technologies which give a level playing field to all the players and hence SMBs can benefit a lot with there. One example in Pharma could be understood from the fact that setting up a wet lab is very expensive, however getting the formulation on a dry HPC lab can reduce the time and capital investment. Today HPC on cloud services are also available to take benefit of pay per use mechanism. SMBs have to understand the business challenges and see how HPC and Big Data provide them the necessary edge to level with the larger competition or to create an complete new edge.
Q4. How is Tyrone Systems positioned to help the above sectors and SMBs through its product portfolio in the realm of HPC? Also please elaborate your Asia strategy if you can in this context
We have a dedicated team for HPC and Big Data, people who are continuously working on them and delving on all the technologies around them. We have more than 400 HPC installations in India and still growing. We do have some large and small installation on Big Data and our team of experts can work out solutions with the help of businesses to access how they can leverage on these technologies. We do have a HPC on cloud offering where people can use the expensive infrastructure on pay per use basis.
