CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Mr. Rajesh C Subramaniam, Founder and CEO, embedUR Systems
1a. Could you elaborate upon your global presence?
embedUR’s technology enables tens of millions of devices around the globe—both in consumer and enterprise premises, across Healthcare, Industrial, Automotive, Consumer Technology and Service Provider verticals. We have served customers in countries like US, Singapore, India, Australia and many more. In the process we have formed strategic links with some of the biggest chipset vendors. Recently, we have joined an elite consortium of companies that specialize in embedded technologies, machine learning and edge computing called the tinyML Foundation.
1b. What factors motivated your decision to enter the Indian market?
The 80s were characterized by simple terminals connected to servers. Then in the 90s, we had laptops and computing moved closer to the consumer. But in the 2000s, further advancements in internet connectivity had set off the run-away success of cloud computing which matured along-side the technological progress from ethernet through Wi-Fi, moving computing away from the edge and towards cost-intensive servers loaned out by technology giants.
embedUR has itself seen unparalleled success in promoting the adoption of Wi-Fi and embedded technologies for our customers over the last two decades across the world. Wireless connectivity in the form of 5G, 4G, LTE, 802.11, Zigbee, Bluetooth is now ubiquitous and composes the backbone of the internet as we know it today.
Now, the focus is moving towards low-power devices with locally hosted AI/ML solutions that can operate in the dark while also taking advantage of connectivity when it’s available. This is an era that prizes efficiency, inclusivity and sustainability in technology and will bring computing back towards the edge. It is quite telling that sensor prices have been dropping steadily over the years and smart devices are becoming increasingly affordable for both consumers and enterprises. Connectivity is also faster than it ever was before.
In a country like India, characterized by a young aspiring middle-class, steadily growing per-capita income levels and a promising deep-tech talent pool, one finds the perfect platform for building a digital economy that can rise up to meet the demand for embedded ML and Edge AI solutions across the world, i.e. a workforce that can build in India for India and the rest of the world combined. With our global exposure, strategic chipset partnerships and enterprising team of engineers based in US and India, we want to help India in its digital odyssey to become the embedded technology hub of the world.
- What are some of the key gaps that you see in the Indian market? How can embedded systems help mitigate these challenges?
The connected devices’ growth is expected to open innumerable opportunities and change the world as we know today. Specifically in India several gaps across sectors can be addressed through embedded technologies thus contributing to technological advancement and as well as socioeconomic development. Here’s a list of some key areas where embedded systems can increase efficiency in functioning and make a huge difference to benefit masses.
Agriculture: Agriculture is a vital sector for Indian economy, and it is increasingly affected by low productivity due to vulnerability to climate change, lack of resources and operational inefficiencies. By integrating and enhancing irrigation systems, agricultural tools and machinery and crop monitoring devices with embedded technology, the industry can benefit from automating tasks, optimizing usage of resources and provide actionable insights to the farmers. Embedded technology can play a key role in helping farmers to increase yields, implement sustainable methods and build resilience to address environmental challenges.
Skill Development & Education: India still suffers disparities in educational attainment and promoting socioeconomic empowerment due to uneven distribution of quality education and skill development opportunities spread across the country, particularly in rural and remote areas. Interactive learning tools, IoT-enabled STEM kits, e-learning platforms will help to provide equal opportunities and enhance learning outcomes.
Healthcare: The rural population in India still suffers from lack of access to quality healthcare services due to limited infrastructure, resource unavailability and geographical barriers. Embedded technologies such as telemedicine platforms, remote monitoring devices, point-of-care diagnostic devices will facilitate remote consultations and quality healthcare deliveries and help in reaching healthcare services to remote and under-served areas and improving healthcare outcomes.
Infrastructure: Embedded systems with its communication capabilities can help to address management and monitoring of critical public infrastructure and services such as utilities, transportation, public distribution systems, healthcare etc., thereby enhancing safety & operational efficiency and effective utilization of public expenditure.
Smart Cities: Embedded technologies can play a key role in creating and maintaining smart cities, especially in the areas of enabling intelligent transport systems, environmental monitoring, public safety surveillance and smart energy grids, thus creating a more efficient and sustainable living and working spaces.
Environment: Embedded technologies can be deployed to address many environmental and climate change challenges. Specifically, embedded technology can play a key role in monitoring environmental networks, generating real-time data and insights to support informed decision-making. The technology will also support to implement proactive conservation measures and support to enhance sustainability.
By leveraging embedded technologies, India can harness the power of innovation to improve quality of life, drive inclusive growth and build a resilient and sustainable future for our citizens.
- What are some of your key products and offerings, that will contribute to the growth and development of the Indian ecosystem?
Our expertise spans Smart Devices, Connectivity, and Management, positioning us as a key player in delivering solutions that meet the complex needs of today’s technological landscape. Our team specializes in leveraging the latest technologies to develop solutions that empower businesses and enhance user experiences across various sectors. Specifically,
- Smart Devices: We focus on the development and integration of smart device technologies, aiming to create intuitive, user-friendly solutions that improve daily operations. Our approach marries practical design with advanced functionality, ensuring devices provide maximum value to users.
- Connectivity Solutions: We offer robust connectivity solutions that ensure seamless, secure, and efficient communication between devices and systems. By utilizing advanced networking technologies, we create the infrastructure necessary for high-performance connectivity, supporting the expanding needs of IoT and device interactivity.
- Device & System Management: Our services enable our customers to effectively manage devices and navigate complex digital environments. By integrating advanced technologies, we provide smart solutions that simplify the oversight of devices, ensuring optimal performance and reliability. Our approach transforms the challenge of managing a wide array of devices into a streamlined and efficient process, empowering businesses to focus on growth and innovation without being bogged down by technical complexities.
Clients that partner with us gain access to embedUR’s specialized knowledge in smart technologies, connectivity, and device management. Our targeted solutions ensure that enterprises remain at the cutting edge, equipped with the tools to effortlessly manage a digital ecosystem.
- Tell us more about your motto to “build locally, deliver locally”. What efforts are you undertaking in this direction?
Our team in Chennai has always been growing at a steady pace. We have recently signed an MoU with the government of Tamil Nadu to ramp up our Chennai presence. We are exploring expansion into Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and strategic partnerships with regional players. We will continue to leverage our international connections within the semiconductor ecosystem to pave our way into new markets in India.
(please also refer to our response to the previous question on India’s potential to become an embedded hub)
- How does embedUR approach innovation to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving tech landscape?
Whenever we were working on solutions for customers, we would try to identify possible adjacent spaces that could benefit from the same. With every new requirement or solution, we conduct a survey of such adjacencies.
For areas of strategic value and importance to the industry and the organization, we create focused work groups to pin down the state-of-the-art in the industry, survey the best practices and build a solution for a use-case. Over time as particular use-cases see wider traction, we funnel the company’s best experts into CoEs that bring their expertise to bear across the board.
6.What trends do you foresee in upskilling for embedded and connected devices in the future?
embedded and connected technology is posed for a significant growth and evolution soon and India due to its geographical presence has the potential to leverage this opportunity and emerge as a global hub for embedded technologies. The country is blessed with a diverse talent pool, however there is a huge talent gap in this area that needs to be addressed and upskilled immediately. Based on the emerging needs, here are some trends that we foresee in upskilling talent.
Multi-disciplinary Training: Due to its nature of hardware and software playing equal roles in embedded systems, it calls for a multidisciplinary talent development approach. This will lead to added emphasis on a holistic understanding of the embedded systems design that envelops hardware design, firmware development, software engineering and system integration. We are already witnessing educational and training institutions offering interdisciplinary programs to equip learners with diverse skill sets to handle complex needs in embedded and connected technologies.
IOT and Edge Computing Focus: Due to proliferation of IoT devices, we see that there is an increasing demand for edge computing capabilities. In India, especially industries such as manufacturing, agriculture and healthcare sectors are leveraging the connected technology to increase their operational efficiency. This will lead to a greater demand for training and upskilling of talent in areas such as sensor technologies, edge architecture and edge analytics.
AI & Machine Learning: Going forward, we will witness India organizations investing in programs that are aimed at bridging the gap between traditional technologies to AI driven applications that can help them with intelligent decision-making at the device level and help in resource-constrained environments. This will lead to training their talent in machine learning techniques, neural networks, algorithms, data mining and deep learning.
Cyber Security: With the growth of embedded and connected technologies, organizations will begin focusing on the security and privacy of data shared and processed through the connected devices. This will lead to upskilling in areas of fundamentals of cyber security, secure coding practices and building capabilities to mitigate vulnerabilities in embedded devices. Bespoke training in cybersecurity to specifically address the unique requirements of the IoT and embedded deployments will also see traction in the future.
Open-Source Standards: Upskilling to encourage familiarity with open-source development tools, frameworks and protocols will also gain traction, as open-source software is commonly used in embedded software development. As the embedded systems industry grows in India, we will see Indian professions embracing the open-source standards and having a deeper engagement with the open-source communities and global standard bodies to stay informed on best practices and emerging trends in this space.
India can lead the embedded systems revolution and position itself as a global hub for innovation and excellence in embedded technology by aligning itself strategically with the emerging industry trends and taking a holistic approach to skill development that encompasses all aspects of embedded systems engineering.
7. Could you share some successful projects or notable achievements from embedUR systems?
- Providing insights into customer devices for network operators:
Our cloud-centric Wi-Fi management solution uses non-invasive methods to accurately identify devices based on their unique signatures, such as device type, operating system, manufacturer, and network usage characteristics. A cloud-enabled algorithm maps the device identities to provide service providers with tools to monitor and optimize Wi-Fi settings for each device, ensuring the best possible performance and coverage.
- Improve customer satisfaction with AI/ML-powered preventative network maintenance:
Self-healing wireless networks help optimize customer satisfaction and reduce costs by proactively identifying issues. These also take corrective action such as automatic reconfiguration and fault detection and isolation, preventing outages and performance degradation.
- Creating reliable and secure mesh networks for industrial devices even in remote environments:
Our low-cost IoT device mesh connectivity solution uses Zigbee, TieDie , and BLE onboarding (Bluetooth Low Energy) to enable simple and secure networking configurations. It reliably manages hard to reach deployments with low-power and low-cost battery powered modules.
About embedUR
embedUR systems (www.embedUR.com) is a leading embedded technology company headquartered in Silicon Valley, with a presence in Chennai. Established in 2004, the company, through its expertise has enabled its customers to launch products and solutions and provide support across markets. In the last two decades, the company has grown to be partner-of-choice for many of its clients, enabling them to increase their product offerings and exceed their financial goals.
