IT@TT - Online

Biswadeep (Bobby) Mitra, Managing Director of Texas Instruments India was recently in Calcutta. Amrita Ghosh of IT@TT met with him for a freewheeling chat. Excerpts...

IT@TT: Is there any specific reason for visiting Calcutta?

BM: We're trying to talk to a few local industries and universities here, in terms of the potential of DSP (digital signal processing) and it's education.

IT@TT: That's interesting. Could you share with us some of TI's plans and perceptions?

BM: Sure. Currently, TI's coursing out a new charter for DSP. We're virtually the number one company in the world of DSP and Analog. That's really important because real world signals are all analog. It's well known that TI India deals with the design part of DSP. But, what's not known is that our strength lies in application software that sits on top of the DSP hardware. The basic hardware's the same, but the differentiation comes from the software. You do the software much better, if you know the underlying hardware and vice-versa.

DSP and Analog are no longer separate chips. They're getting integrated. TI's involved in both the software and hardware part of DSP is now focusing on developing integrated software and hardware solutions. We passed the mainframe age, the PCs, mini computers and the mobiles. We believe that the first decade of 2000s will be the Communication and Internet Age.

IT@TT: How well developed is the market for integrated DSP and Analog?

BM: The writing on the wall very clearly shows that market growth here (in India) is very slow.

IT@TT: Why so?

BM: Well, you've a PC at home. Would you buy a new PC? I don't think you will. Similarly the masses don't.

IT@TT: But wouldn't the strength of an economy be important?

BM: I completely agree. A strong economy is absolutely essential. Moreover, the PC market'll experience a strong decline due to current global recession. Further, there's a convergence happening between computing and communication. Though we focus on this aspect, it really doesn't matter to us what the world looks like as long as it has a TI component inside it. We believe that our leadership in DSP will make us the number one player in this booming market of $500 million.

IT@TT: In the 15 years that TI's been in India, what's been DSP's and are you satisfied with the response?

BM: A tremendous amount of leadership is necessary to make this growth happen on a massive scale. For almost 5 years now, TI has actively spread DSP education in India. We've set up a great many DSP labs in the IITs. A recent one was at IISc. We provide them with DSP kits and tools, so that, students can develop software applications. In fact, TI conducts cross-exchange programs with some universities. This has to happen on a massive scale. Other companies need to come forward. More companies, mean more DSP chips.

IT@TT: Is there a discrepancy between theory and practice of DSP tenets in our engineering curriculum?

BM: As a theoretical science, DSP's been included in our syllabus since I graduated from IIT. But, it hasn't changed with time. As you rightly surmised, there's very little practical implementation. These students are the future designers. And it's only fair that they learn their craft on an industry-standard state-of-the-art chip. They should be steered in the right direction.

IT@TT: What was the reaction from educational institutions when you first approached them?

BM: There was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. And the overwhelming response to the DSP fest shows that we've been able to sustain this excitement. Currently, we are offering DSP education in 25 institutions across India. There're even some upcoming startups in India focusing on DSP software. The key players there are called an installed base of DSP programmers, who develop application softwares on the TI-DSP hardware platform.

IT@TT: Could you be more specific about your plans to promote DSP education in the East?

BM: We're considering several options. Firstly, consider the entire gamut of DSP applications and start slicing it into various areas like mobile commerce, video importing and others. Our idea's that industries and universities will focus separately on each of these areas. Right now, we're trying to collect the data that'll support our plan. We're also taking the end-equipment approach. So at the moment, more than partnership, our focus is to assess which university or industry has the best understanding of the components that make up the wireless handset, the digital camera and so on.

IT@TT: Which are your target industries?

BM: Industries that're good in application software. For example, Pentamedia, a Madras-based company is good in gaming software. SAS makes good audio and video software. IIT Madras excels in analog. IIT, Kharagpur is good in imaging software. But we don't want redundancy. In a huge project like ours, we can't afford duplication. That's why we're thoughtfully assessing these scales.

IT@TT: Does TI recruit from institutions where you impart DSP education?

BM: Yes. A whole lot. Our curriculum and expertise building starts with recruitment. Several students come to Bangalore for summer training. Many join us on completion of their studies.

IT@TT: How do these students who've studied the theoretical curriculum fare in its practical application?

BM: They've become more knowledgeable, but to make students more productive will involve exposing them to the development of high-end software applications together with the hardware platform.

IT@TT: Have you ever thought of setting up your own institution to offer similar infrastructure and resources to students necessarily from the engineering stream?

BM: That's an excellent thought. But our own institution may take a long time to materialise. As a means of present knowledge dissemination however, I visualise a kind of Internet and Communications forum in India. This'll have members from TI, its competitors, suppliers, universities and offer interested parties a common platform to come together and conduct computer and web-based training in this area. We're trying to go beyond TI's existing horizontal platform and use our competency to build expertise in the vertical platform. That's a tremendous change in not just strategy, but also mindset.

Interviewed By Amrita Ghosh
[email protected]

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