BITS, Pilani and HP labs collaboration

BITS, Pilani and HP labs have jointly announced a unique Ph D fellowship to attract candidates of exceptional abilities for research in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) relevant to fast growing economies like India. Under the fellowship scheme, selected candidates will get an opportunity to make use of the academic expertise of BITS Pilani and the research environment of HP laboratories. Current focus areas include Web Based Print Distribution, Data on paper, Intelligent Storage Management and Distributed Operating Systems. In the years to come, this initiative is bound to strengthen work integrated learning and add new dimensions in industry university partnerships for the larger task of nation building.

BITS, Dubai diro meets PM of UAE

Dr.M.Ramachandran, Director, BITS, Pilani – Dubai Campus was invited for an official launch of Dubai Academic City by the UAE Vice President and Prime Minister, Ruler of Dubai H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum at Jumeirah Beach Hotel on 30th April 2006. He was among the very few heads of top universities who were invited to grace this occasion.

BITS to organise national entrepreneurship convention

BITS will be organising a "National Convention on Energizing Entrepreneurship through Innovation" on 6th and 7th October 2006. The convention would provide an opportunity to potential entrepreneurs students, professionals, scientists and faculty members - to participate and demonstrate their innovative ideas, products and services developed individually or in groups in their institutions and learn about the process of innovation and how they can be commercialised. The primary objective of the convention is to arouse responsiveness about innovation, venture capital and to offer possibilities for networking. You may refer to the details on the convention under seminar and conferences heading at the BITS homepage. To access the details on the convention, check here.

3i Infotech appoints Anirudh Prabhakaran as Chief Operating Officer for South Asia 

3i Infotech Limited, a global provider of IT solution and one of India's largest and fastest growing software product companies, has announced the appointment of Mr. Anirudh Prabhakaran as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for South Asia. Mr. Prabhakaran will be driving 3i Infotech's business in South Asia. He will be reporting into Mr. Hari Padmanabhan, Deputy Managing Director, 3i Infotech.

Commenting on the appointment, Mr. Hari Padmanabhan, Deputy Managing Director, 3i Infotech said, "Anirudh has vast experience in the IT industry and has worked with the best in the business. His experience spans across a variety of areas such as application software, IT infrastructure and system integration. I therefore believe that he is most well suited for the role at 3i Infotech and will help drive our robust business to newer heights in the South Asia region."

Anirudh himself had this to say: "3i Infotech is one of the fastest growing software solutions companies with a focused approach to the BFSI, Manufacturing and Government segments. Based on its fine track record, I expect exciting times ahead and look forward to being part of the team that will drive growth in South Asia to an even greater extent in future."

Prior to joining 3i Infotech, Mr. Prabhakaran was Director - Sales & Marketing for Cable & Wireless with business responsibility for India and Sri Lanka for a comprehensive range of services encompassing remote IT infrastructure management and managed data services. He brings with him immense experience and proficiency across a wide range of business areas in the IT industry. He has also worked with Wipro Infotech for over 14 years. Mr. Prabhakaran graduated from BITS, Pilani and did his PGDM from IIM, Kolkata.

Yatharth Saraf is the first winner of the Dr. Ranjit Singh Chauhan Award for Undergraduate Research  

Congratulations to Yatharth Saraf, a senior in Computer Science at BITS-Pilani! Yatharth is the first student to win this prestigious award for the academic year 2004-2005. A faculty committee set up by the Dean, Research and Consultancy Division, selected Yatharth out of several nominees for the prestigious award. Yatharth bagged the award based on his research on “Skeletonization of 2D Objects/Images” and “Divergence-based Thinning of Binary Images.” Yathrath also won the Best student paper award given by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for his work on “Curve-Skeleton extraction of 2D-binary images/objects” under the guidance of Prof. R. Balasubramanian. A paper titled “Computing the Curve-Skeletons of Images” and coauthored by Yatharth Saraf, R. Balasubramanian and K. Swaminathan appeared in Proceedings of “the 8th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics & Informatics”, Vol. XII, pp. 310-315, July 18-21, 2004, Orlando, Florida, USA. This work has also appeared in a journal: "A Classical Approach for Thinning of Binary Images using Divergence of the Potential Field," Yatharth Saraf, Balasubramanian Raman and Krishnan Swaminathan, International Journal of Computer Mathematics (Taylo and Francis Group, UK), Vol. 82, No. 6, June 2005, pp. 673-684. Dr. Ranjit Singh Chauhan Award for Undergraduate Research was set up by friends of Late Dr. R. S. Chauhan, a BITS-alum. All currently enrolled full time undergraduates and those who have graduated during three semesters prior to the date of nominations, are eligible. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 10,000 and a certificate.

Reported by: Aditya P. Mathur, Purdue University

Café Tantra, restaurant started by a BITSian at Clapham junction in London welcomes all BITSians

 Cafe Tantra is showing world cup on big screen and doing a delicious Indian Buffet all through out this world cup. The price of the buffet for lunch is £4.95 and dinner £8.50. There is a 10% discount to all the BITSians and their friends. We would be showing all the games on the big screen and might do some bollywood movie screenings as well. We have a decently sized bar and a very good selection of beers and liquors. Please do drop in sometime and watch the game with us. The address is

Café Tantra, 18^th St Johns Road, Clapham Junction, London – Tel – 020-7585-3400

Gulu Mirchandani made Onida, India’s pride

     In 1981, Gulu Mirchandani, a BITS alum, promoted MIRC Electronics to make televisions under the Onida brand. Establishing the company was a struggle: Rajiv Gandhi had opened up imports so that we could all watch the 1982 Asian Games, and Jumbo's Manu Chabbria seized the opportunity to flood India with Sony exports from Dubai. It was not until the mid 1980s that the fledgling company's fortunes could turn. The catalyst was a controversial advertising campaign with the tagline, 'Neighbor's Envy, Owner's Pride'. The face of the devil became the face of the company and sales boomed. The rest as they say is history. Onida gained ground not only over Indian players such as Videocon and BPL but equally won turf battles against the global giants such as Sony. The next turning point was a family separation in the mid 1990s, with Sonu taking over the Delhi factory, and Gulu the Mumbai operations and the Onida brand. There was a hiatus for a year or so, but once the reorganization was over, Onida hit the streets running. New products tumbled off the designers' drawing boards, ("We have very strong R&D of our own. We're constantly increasing investment here. We started out with five R&D people. We have 75 today") not just in consumer electronics but also consumer durables, including washing machines with fuzzy logic.

Gulu studied engineering at BITS Pilani, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering.