SAAS – RTN asia

Wipro, one of India's largest IT services providers, said it has brought its big data analytics solution, Data Discovery, to Microsoft's Azure cloud platform. Big data solutions help companies collect, store and analyse huge amounts of raw data produced by sensors, cameras, sales reports, social media campaigns and so on to obtain useful insights into their business. Azure is a proprietary cloud technology used by Microsoft to host its enterprise offerings and competes with similar platforms from Amazon, SAP, Oracle and other vendors. Cloud platforms do away with the need by companies to purchase servers and install and tune software programs. They also reduce implementation time and initial costs drastically. Developers also benefit as most of these platforms have built-in modules that can be leveraged to speed-up development. It is also easier to market cloud solutions as each of the platforms comes with its app store similar to mobile appstores run by Google and Apple. "Wipro's Data Discovery Platform is a leading example of leveraging the data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities of Microsoft Azure cloud to build novel domain-specific business applications across industry verticals,"said Joseph Sirosh, Corporate VP, Cloud Al Platform, Microsoft. However, due to the fragmentation of the market, companies like Wipro are currently forced to create separate versions for each of these platforms as the code written for one cannot be used on another. Meanwhile, these proprietary platforms face competition from the emerging OpenStack technology that aims to create a non-proprietary cloud platform that can be used by any company without paying license fees. Wipro and Microsoft have been strategic partners for decades. Wipro has demonstrated its Commitment to this relationship by investing in new industry-leading solutions for Customers on the Azure platform. Wipro said its Data Discovery solution is targeted at industries such as banking and financial Services, retail, energy, education and manufacturing. "Wipro's Data Discovery Platform will enable businesses to embark on an analytics journey with value added services of process simplification and business transformation to bridge the gap between the insights required by business and the information that is available," it said. The solution is available on a "pay-per-insight" pricing model. The platform leverages Microsoft's Cortana Intelligence Suite which includes HDInsight, Stream Analytics, Data Lake Analytics, Machine Learning and Power B to build analytical applications. "Currently, fourteen Wipro Data Discovery Platform applications have been showcased on Microsoft Advanced Analytics Partner Solution Showcase," the Indian company said. Wipro and Microsoft have collaborated on various aspects of the solution, including engineering, Solution enhancements, and joint go-to market strategy. "Together, Microsoft and Wipro have built an industry sector-specific apps ecosystem on the Data Discovery Platform. Today, the platform is a significant enabler of Analytics led Digital Transformation delivering Analytics-as-a-Service to organizations," said Pallab Deb, Vice President & Global Head - Analytics, Wipro Limited.