Author: Microsoft Stories

Microsoft has tied up with International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to develop a system designed specially to suit the needs of farmers in countries like India. The solutions are going to give them heads up on the likelihood of rain, outbreak of diseases or attack of pests and on soil health condition.

In a mobile-first and Cloud-first country like India, there now lies a new over $100 billion opportunity if we can leverage Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge solutions across industries, Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, said. The Intelligent Edge brings the power of the Cloud to mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, thus creating a connected ecosystem. Microsoft today is leading the digital momentum in India with a renewed thrust on Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge.

In wake of recent cyber attacks, the issue of cyber security has developed into a business problem from being just a technical one, a top Microsoft official said here on Thursday. Speaking at a Microsoft event, Digital Crimes Unit regional director Keshav Dhakad said, “Cyber security is no longer just a technical issue but has evolved into a business one. Recent attacks gave us a glimpse of how cyber attacks can affect the operations of a business.”

Microsoft India on Thursday showcased several projects that make use of the company’s cloud-based artificial intelligence, cognitive services and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. According to the company, these initiatives are spurring Digital India. The motives are aimed at changing the way citizens, enterprises and governments engage in healthcare services, agricultural practices, education and everyday work.

Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India spoke about its India story to Business Today on December 13th in Hyderabad, where it organized its annual media and analyst days. He said, “If you look at the vertical focus that we have now, which is bringing both global solutions into India and creating solutions for Indian companies, the banking and financial sector is a big area of impact that we have moved on.”

Microsoft will soon enable partners to work effectively with its rich network of government customers, helping them work around the country’s mega digital initiative, a top company executive said. “One out of nine of our partners today does business on the Cloud and, going forward, we will endeavour to bring all of them into the Cloud ecosystem. With Cloud awareness now reaching tier II and tier III markets, we will definitely have more reach in India in 2018,” Rajiv Sodhi, General Manager, Partner Ecosystem, Microsoft India, told IANS.

Microsoft made its Edge Browser app for iOS support the iPhone X. The support comes as a part of Microsoft Edge app version 41.6 on the App Store. The browser comes with features like Favorites, Reading List, New Tab Page and Reading View. It also comes with the feature that lets users pause their work on the Edge browser on the mobile and continue on the desktop.

Thousands of students from rural India to relocate to cities for studying under best teachers, causing financial strain on their parents. To help with this, a product, ‘Anywhere Board’, is being developed at Microsoft Garage. The Anywhere Board will allow students sitting in different remote locations to watch the teacher’s lecture, as well as let students in one location solve the problem on the board remotely and their will still be visible to all other groups.

To further hasten Indian customers move to the Cloud, Microsoft launched Azure Stack for India. Azure Stack is an extension of Microsoft’s Azure Cloud platform and brings the agility and fast-paced innovation of Cloud computing to on-premises environments and enables entirely new hybrid Cloud scenarios. Microsoft has been a partner-led company for more than 40 years and generates over 95 per cent of its business through partner ecosystems.