Ravinder Pal Singh is a Senior Industry Consultant and Expert in Digital Transformation and Smart Connected economies. With an experience of over 20 years in the business & technology consulting, Enterprise Architecture and solutions, Ravinder has primarily worked in the areas of Industry vertical solutions (Smart Cities, Real Estate, Healthcare, Education, Media, Manufacturing, etc.), Data center, Collaboration, and network technology Solutions.

Ravinder has extensive experience consulting and managing projects with diverse streams of segments like government, manufacturing, R&D, Media, IT & ITES, Telcos, and Retail customers. He has been part of empaneled consultants for India Smart City Mission and Delhi Mumbai Infrastructure Corridor (DMIC). Ravinder has also consulted on Smart City projects in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Korea and Singapore. Besides, he has 2 patent applications submitted in the areas of Data center and Security.

Ravinder is a known thought leader on Smart Cities, IoT, and Digital Transformation. He is a regular speaker in national and international forums around Internet of Everything and Smart Communities.  Some of his articles have been published in leading publications.  IoT India Magazine caught up with Ravinder Pal Singh to find out what DellEMC is doing in the IoT space.

IoT India Magazine: Talk about Dell’s journey so far in an IoT dedicated landscape. How is the firm contributing uniquely towards this space? What are the technologies that lie at the centre of the firm’s IoT practice?

Ravinder Pal Singh: IoT is a wide and large umbrella and Dell Technologies Family is uniquely positioned in this game.  If we look at IoT as a holistic concept, it is based on 6Cs of Data cycle:  Connect, Collect, Collate, Compute, Conserve, and Consume.

Dell Technologies family has a clear positioning and proposition for each of these stages:  Connect (Network/IoT Gateway), Collect (IoT Gateway), Collate (Gateway), Compute (Wide range of Compute), Conserve (Storage), and Consume (End Devices). Besides this, the other key component is Security – Device, Content, and Perimeter. DellEMC has portfolio mapping in each of these areas.

IoT India Magazine: Please present a picture of the IoT sector in India. What are the typical challenges noticed in the space?

RPS: IoT in India is still at a nascent stage, I will say. Some sectors like utilities, manufacturing, and transportation have adopted and started utilizing the same. However the bigger story for IoT in India is now at execution stage: Smart Cities, AMRUT, Digital India, Power Sector reforms, Railways, etc.

In next 5-6 years we will see maturity in adoption and usage of IoT solutions in almost every sphere, though it has its own challenges, viz., low adoption rate. This is largely due to price and complexity which is slowly reaching to a stage now. Also Security of IoT devices and data have been major areas of concern. However, a lot many startups and niche companies in India are doing a great job in this area, and we have started seeing cost optimization in this area.

IoT India Magazine: What are some of the most recent technological developments in the IoT space? How is Dell incorporating those technologies into its own ecosystem?

RPS: As mentioned earlier, IoT is all about Data – data management, analytics, and consumption. Analytics is a key area where lot of innovation is happening. Data lifecycle is an area where DellEMC has a unique position owing to our leadership in storage, compute, and virtualization.

Some examples of innovation in this space is around video analytics which is helping solve Crime and Traffic issues. Real-time, in-motion edge analytics is another area of focus and DellEMC’s IoT Edge platform is uniquely placed here. On top of that, we have created and on boarded a unique ecosystem of solution providers and developers to build solutions around this.

IoT India Magazine: Infrastructure, analytics, security, and services are some of your IoT offerings. Please throw light on this statement talking about the features of the offerings.

RPS: We have Infrastructure solutions around network, compute, storage, and virtualization; Security solutions for device, content, and perimeter; and Enterprise services like consulting, data integration, management, and infrastructure design.  

DellEMC’s leadership in core components like storage, compute, and virtualization as well in end consumer devices like PC/Laptops and our IoT Edge Analytics makes us a partner of choice for all IoT adopters and providers.

IoT India Magazine: How do you customize your solutions to meet the needs of different industry verticals?

RPS: Domain and vertical alignment is very important in positioning solutions and we do have some good capabilities globally in this space.  Whether it is BFSI, manufacturing, public, smart cities, security, or healthcare, DellEMC has both resources and systems catering to a vertical-specific use cases.

IoT India Magazine: Talk about the work culture at Dell. Any piece of advice for all startups and entrepreneurs who want to make it big in the IoT sector?

RPS: DellEMC has a very open and encouraging culture. Culture thrives when people really live it. We set standards for how we define ourselves as inventors and business people, and then we go about setting targets for how we achieve these goals.

Only one suggestion or advice for startups: It is important to have an innovative product or offering but it is also very important to position it in the target market.

IoT India Magazine: What brought you to the IoT landscape? Also talk about your experience in the field. Also present Dell’s roadmap in an IoT landscape.

RPS: Fortunately, I got to get engage with this field much earlier. When IoT was not even a word heard in this part of world, I had an opportunity to work on early avatars like M2M (Machine to Machine) in manufacturing area or Smart Buildings where IBMS and SCADA systems used Cross system integration, which laid a foundation for IoT.

I have led, managed and deployed large projects in areas like automobile manufacturing, healthcare, e-governance, oil and gas, mining, and smart cities for last 12 years; covering multiple countries like India, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Philipines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore.

Dell takes a pragmatic approach to the Internet of Things (IoT) by building on the equipment and data you already have, and leveraging your current technology investments, to quickly and securely enable analytics-driven action. At Dell we:

• Architect for analytics. Dell’s analytics, data management and infrastructure solutions provide the power to ensure your IoT solution enables analytics where it makes sense – at the edge, in the data center, or in the cloud.
• Think security first. With award-winning security tools and expertise, and a holistic approach, Dell helps ensure your infrastructure and data remain safe, secure, and private.
• Provide choice and flexibility. Dell’s broad portfolio of key IoT technologies, combined with a rich partner ecosystem, allows you to build the right IoT ecosystem for your unique needs.