TiEcon 2013 Overview – Focus on Big Data, Mobile, SDN & Entrepreneurship

TiEcon 2013, the biggest conference of its kind, with a mission to nurture entrepreneurship, has an impressive lineup of excellent speakers and panels, in the hottest industry segments of Big Data, Mobile, Software Defined Infrastructure, and in Entrepreneurship.

Big Data track will feature speakers that include, Dr. D J Patil http://bit.ly/YYyOxd, data scientist at Greylock Partners, and Rayid Ghani, http://bit.ly/16Ys2iI , Mr. Obama’s Chief Scientist who converted vast amount of data collected through large commercial databases, boutique lists, voter files, and social media sites, into a source of valuable data that galvanized the election campaign and the rest is history.

Mobile track will hold panels on “mobile ecosystems” to “where they are VCs investing”, in this fast growing market.  The track will feature top notch speakers like Anand Chandrasekhar http://bit.ly/10zEJks, Senior VP and CMO at Qualcomm.

With data centers of the future defined by Software Defined Infrastructure, efficiency is bound to get a boost, as resources get divided.  This track will feature speakers like Dr. Guru Parulkar http://bit.ly/10MyHYw, Executive Director at ONRC and Consulting Professor at Stanford University, with discussions around how OpenFlow might enable networks to evolve by giving power to the remote controller, to modify the behavior of network devices.

Entrepreneurship track has some of the biggest names of inspiring self made entrepreneurs, including famous Ronnie Screwvala http://bit.ly/160LYQB, Syntel’s Bharat Desai http://bit.ly/13HmSrQ, Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics http://bit.ly/ZxDn3f, and Manoj Bhargava  http://bit.ly/17KV6dc, CEO of 5-Hour Energy, possibly the wealthiest Indian entrepreneur, in USA.

Vinod Khosla (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Entrepreneurship is not just a buzzword at TiEcon.  Here future successful entrepreneurs will be showcasing their companies, will get access to mentors like Vinod Khosla and Kanwal Rekhi, and get countless opportunities to network.  The participants will likely include professionals from some of TiE’s 500+ startups and 150+ angel investors.  Come and get energized, in an environment where failures are merely stepping stones to success.

Last few days to register for tiecon, before it is fully sold out – http://www.tiecon.org.

TieCon 2013 Keynote (Bharat Desai – Chairman, Syntel) Preview

TiEcon in Silicon Valley is the place where entrepreneurs are made and nurtured; a place where self-made entrepreneurs share success stories.  How do they harness the larger trends and survive the economic hiccups?  Here is what we may look forward to in one keynote address.  You can register for the conference at http://www.tiecon.org .

Bharat Desai, founder and Chairman of Syntel is a self-made entrepreneur, who started Syntel in 1980, with his wife to be, Neerja Sethi.  Together, they make one of the few successful husband-wife teams, in business.  While studying in college, they started Syntel with $2000.  The computer consulting company completed an initial public offering in 1997 and, according to Desai, Syntel has already created 15 millionaires. He expects to raise the number to 100.

The company was originally providing software staffing services to local corporations.  It is now a renowned global provider of Information Technology (IT) and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) solutions spanning the entire lifecycle of business and information systems and processes.  With global development centers in India and the US, with almost 17000 employees in India and growing, and 2012 annual revenue of $723.9 million, Syntel sees growth ahead.  The economic downturn was forcing Syntel’s clients to improve their competitive positioning and operational efficiency and Syntel saw this challenge as their opportunity.  Priding itself on being “small enough to listen, big enough to deliver”, Syntel focused on providing integrated IT and KPO services that can help reduce cost, with a combination of incremental outsourcing, improved offshore leverage and increased productivity, and rate reductions.  While these initiatives helped its clients, they also provided enhanced margins to Syntel.

Syntel is also leveraging the inescapable fact that globalization is an irreversible mega-trend.  Recently the company was named one of the “50 Best Managed Global Outsourcing Vendors” by The Black Book of Outsourcing (http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2009/06/22/399528/167586/en/Customers-Rank-Syntel-Among-the-50-Best-Global-Outsourcers-for-the-Third-Straight-Year.html ).  Syntel does not see outsourcing as simply a model to cut cost but to truly harness the talent and innovation from the world wide pool.  Syntel’s clients are continuing to focus on running their core businesses and outsourcing non-core functions with an aim to reduce cost, improve quality, speed, and flexibility in implementing solutions.  Syntel is a “Partner of Choice” among several prestigious Global 2000 corporations and has won many awards. Going forward, Syntel sees Healthcare and Life Sciences industry, facing regulatory compliance and data sensitivity challenges, as a major growth opportunity.   Growth in on-demand services, grid and cloud computing, and IP based solutions may bode well indeed for Syntel, in the years to come.