Before the start of the three-day International Conference on Security of Internet of Things at the Amritapuri campus, Chancellor Amma told conference organizers to pay attention to those applications that can bring direct benefits to society.

“Amma asked us if there are any applications that can uplift the poor and downtrodden, that can help transform the ordinary into extra ordinary. I am happy to note that in this conference a number of important ideas have been shared, many directions have opened up for applications such as environmental monitoring, energy saving, waste management, fresh water security, health care, body area networks and telemedicine,” stated Dr. Venkat Rangan, Vice-Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, at the concluding session of the conference.

Indeed, invited speakers from the University of California, Santa Cruz; Silicon Valley Chapter of Cloud Security Alliance; IITs; Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru; Fujitsu, Encode S.A., Greece; Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam; University of Texas, Arlington; eBay; Tata Consultancy Innovation Labs; University of Technology, Sydney and National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan presented a multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving using the internet of things.

Experts, scholars and scientists delivered a total of 34 invited talks, tutorials and workshops at the conference.

“If we have to define the Internet of Things (IoT), an apt definition would include smart devices and infrastructure autonomously collaborating together and acting wisely to enhance human experience,” stated Mr. Pranav Mehta, CTO, Intel Digital Enterprises.

Dr. Rajesh Gupta, University of California, San Diego stressed on the need for solutions to tackle the problem of global warming. His presentation included solutions developed by his university team that included ‘Somniloquy’ which allowed machines in sleep mode support continuous operation of network-facing applications and ‘Sleep Server’, a software-only approach that reduced energy consumption by almost 60 percent.

“It is becoming increasingly important to make our buildings energy efficient and reduce the energy consumption of PCs because of rising energy costs and environmental concerns. More IT means more energy consumption,” he opined.

Dr. Xavier Fernando, Professor and Director, Ryerson Communications Lab, Canada made a presentation on smart electrical grids that could improve competence and sustainability of the production and distribution of electricity. His presentation especially elaborated on how smart grids could provide the right solutions for India’s power woes.

“A smart grid has the capability to heal itself, provide high quality power, run more efficiently, resist attacks and motivate consumers to actively participate in the grid,” he stated.

Rajesh Venkat
, Vice President, Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies, California, in his talk on biometrics, highlighted effective techniques to prevent identity fraud.

Dr. Manish Gupta, Director, IBM Research shared his insights with delegates. “A smarter planet can be enabled by three I’s. The first ‘I’ is instrumentation and today we have an abundance of very cheap transistors and very inexpensive sensors that can measure the precise state of almost every manmade and natural system. The second ‘I’ is interconnectivity. All the data that is collected by sensors is available as the internet of things, which when appropriately processed, leads to the third ‘I’, Intelligence,” he said.

“As we start processing the data collected, we can make decisions in real time and can accomplish amazing things, and really deliver lots of benefits to society. I have seen the work at Amrita and it’s amazing that societal benefit is the driving objective behind the research being conducted here,” he remarked.

Other speakers echoed similar sentiments. Among topics they discussed, were the Network of People, Automotive Functional Safety, Application Security, Present and Future Privacy and Security and Computer Forensics.

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August 23, 2012
Amritapuri Campus