HYDERABAD: With a view to boosting the industry-academia interface, the research and development wing of Yahoo India has entered into an agreement with the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, in the field of `cloud computing.’ IIIT R&D Dean PJ Narayanan, IIIT associate professor Vasudeva Varma and director of grid engineering Yahoo India Chidambaran Kollengode announced details of the MoU at a press conference held here today.
Addressing newspersons, Chidambaram explained that cloud computing was Internet-based computing in which resources were provided “as a service’’ to users in a completely transparent manner.
Explaining the reason for choosing IIIT for the strategic partnership with the premier institute, he said: “Cloud computing is already being offered as an optional course in undergraduate and postgraduate curricula here.
We also hope that this collaboration would provide the students with an opportunity to research and work with Yahoo’s key architects on cutting- edge technologies.’’ “At IIIT-H, we have already set highly ambitious goals for the cloud computing group. One is setting up cloud infrastructure at the level of each of the institute’s research centres and at the institute level,’’ said Vasudeva Varma, who will be principle investigator of the joint collaboration project.
Speaking on the occasion, PJ Narayanan said the collaboration was typical of the `Nurture-an-Area’ model of external engagement which encourages industry support for the institute’s research initiatives.
“The model provides for collaborative corporate engagement in an area of mutual interest, preserving the individual roles with very low overhead,’’ he explained, saying that this was a very cost-effective model.