“Thousands of developers in India are focused on Linux and open source projects”
For all those who think open source technology is still not for the masses, read on. Lux Rao, CTO, Technology Services, HP India, speaks about how open source technology is going places and job opportunities are increasing by leaps and bounds across this industry. In an exclusive tête-à-tête with Diksha P Gupta from Open Source For You, Rao shared how developers are hired at companies like HP. Q Do you feel that India is rich in open source skills? India has an enviable pool of open source skills and global-grade talent, which are being leveraged across the globe. Having said that, I would add that we could play a more active role in contributing to the open source community. That would be a true reflection of our skills and talent as a nation.
Q Is this because of the education provided in the country? Academia in India is a significant contributor as I believe that students hone their skills on open source thanks to the availability of open source tech, particularly in professional courses such as engineering, and at the Masters level, et al.
Q Do you think there has been an increase in the demand for FOSS professionals over the recent years? As FOSS continues to leapfrog into the realm of mainstream adoption, there is an ever increasing demand for FOSS professionals. The future is full of opportunities and it pays to get oneself equipped with open source tech knowledge.
Q Are your clients ready for open source solutions? How has their outlook towards FOSS changed? I see a marked increase in clients’ awareness, understanding and aspirations for FOSS technology. The great values of FOSS cannot be underestimated, and that is not just limited to issues linked to costs or budgets. The notion of a large body of constantly evolving solutions is very compelling and more so as there is a global talent pool at work. All this, and some of the major global successful solutions built around OSS, have stoked the interest around open source.
Added to this is the emergence of new tech stacks by way of the cloud, Big Data, mobility, et al, which are placing huge demands on the scale and agility of organisations. A new style of IT, as mooted by HP, provides choices to clients whilst being cognizant of the opportunities and challenges presented by the emerging ethos of technology.
Q When do you think organisations should opt for FOSS solutions? The magic of FOSS appeals to organisations of all sizes and at various stages. A start-up would find FOSS compelling due to cost factors, a mid-sized organisation for the tools, and a large organisation for the scale FOSS offers.
Q How do FOSS platforms or tools add value to project development? What are their advantages over proprietary solutions? I think one of the key advantages of using FOSS tools is that there is a large amount of work that is constantly going in to building open source technology. So, with open source technology, you can leverage global expertise and get the bestof-the-breed applicable to your requirements. In a way, what you are doing is leveraging the global development talent pool, without the costs normally incurred to come up with something that actually brings a lot of value to your project. The advantage of open source technology is that the developers get to access the latest and the best tools, which helps them do their work better. There are a variety of tools to choose from in the open source
world, so developers are not locked into one or the other tool.
The advantages of open source tools are many. One can avoid being locked into one vendor’s tool. The second major advantage is concurrency, enabling you to actually use the latest tools. Open source tools also facilitate agility, which means that they allow developers do something at a faster pace. And the best advantage that comes with open source technology is the large community that backs a project. Whenever you get stuck, you don’t have to depend upon conventional sources of information but can reach out to the community and seek their help. QHow
many open source professionals work at your organisation currently? Today, thousands of developers across our company are focused on Linux and open source projects, while many more service professionals are involved in the implementation and support of Linux and open source projects for our customers. QWhat
skills do you look for while recruiting employees (in the development wing)? There are many technical aspects that we look for in a candidate before hiring in HP. The technicalities mostly depend on the project the candidate is being hired for. In a nutshell, for a particular project, we look for whatever is relevant. Apart from this, any experience is always welcome. Out-of-the-box thinking is a must for getting hired in a company like ours. A developer needs to be creative and must possess problemsolving techniques. QDo
you train your employees in open source? There is a lot of training available for employees across multiple mediums, spanning classrooms to MOOC. Everybody is encouraged to constantly hone their skills and develop new areas of expertise that will help them perform and contribute better. QDo
you interact with the online open source community? We do a lot more than talk about open source, and our track record is a clear indication that we are seriously committed to the growth, maturity, and success of open source. We’re a solutions provider, active user, and a longstanding member, working side by side with communities all over the world. QDo
you also share your open source work with them? We are an active sponsor of numerous organisations to help promote open source technology and its vast user communities. Our support is for organisations that include: Apache Software Foundation CE Linux Forum FOSSBazaar FOSSology Free Software Foundation Linux Foundation Software Freedom Law Center
HP has bestowed a significant amount of valuable intellectual property to the open source community for technology advances. Some recent contributions are mentioned below. HP-sponsored open source projects: In addition to supporting numerous open source projects including Debian, HP has initiated over 100 open source projects of its own, many of which have been released to the community. LinuxCOE: Offering a standardised set of tools and processes to quickly and efficiently roll out new Linux servers. LinuxCOE provides high quality, efficient system management at a low cost. HP Integrity NonStop tools, utilities, libraries and packages: More than 200 open source tools, utilities, libraries, and packages have been ported to the HP Integrity NonStop server platform and are available at no cost to customers. Over 2,000 open source printer drivers: HP is the only major printer manufacturer with fully open source printer drivers. We’ve contributed over 2,000, which are now included in our partners’ Linux distributions for true plug-and-play support, earning us the first prize in a Linuxprinting.org survey for quality, speed, and commitment to open source. Carrier-grade Linux: HP continues to play an important role in the definition and implementation of carrier grade Linux for the telecom sector. QWhat
is your message to the growing number of FOSS developers and to the community? FOSS developers play a very important role in this constantly evolving ecosystem. While they use the tools that are available readily and freely for them, they must also make it a point to contribute back to the open source world. So, while they are consuming, they should also be a part of creating open source technology. Consuming and creating should go hand-in-hand, so that we get better tools and are able to leverage the advantages of open source. QWhat
are the emerging career choices for a modern day developer? I think it is a very interesting phase. Hard coding is still an important part of the business. Ready availability of tools and frameworks has made it easy for developers to look at what could be the best solution for them to achieve a particular objective. There are certain tools that are available today that make the whole development task easier and, therefore, more agile. So I would say that it is only getting more and more exciting. Developers should always be alert to developments in their respective fields. QDo
certifications help in getting a job? Yes, they do. IT is a field in which one needs to be up-todate with the latest technologies, and certifications are a way in which one can do that. Of course, one should also have practical knowhow of technologies to make a better impact on the recruiter.
Q In 2012, you had planned to enter the open market in India, but you finally did so only in 2013. Any reasons for the delay? That is the result of our go-to-market strategy. The market situation in 2012 was different compared to 2013. We saw 2013 as the best time to enter the open market, keeping in mind the high adoption rate of smartphones in the country.
Q You had launched some high-end smartphones in China, which were never brought to the Indian market. What the Indian market got from ZTE initially were some entry level phones with basic specifications. India is a different market with operators that have different policies. People now have the option of choosing two numbers. So we will now bring in dual SIM models that can help them operate two numbers at a time. Q How many smartphone models does ZTE have in India currently? ZTE has a range of 40 smartphones worldwide that are ready to be launched in India. They have been customised as per Indian requirements. We are already supplying to the operators, but as far as our open market business is concerned, we have just entered our first phase with the launch of four handsets. In Phase 2, which should begin in the next two months, we are launching four more handsets and will add more in the open market gradually, depending on Indian customers’ requirements. Q What do you mean by ‘customising the handsets for the Indian customers’? If you look at the global handsets, they are designed keeping in mind different network conditions. Indian network conditions and the way people operate their smartphones are pretty different from customers in the US and UK. In the US, I can live with a smartphone with less battery backup. Those markets do not focus much on the physical housing of the handsets, nor on battery backup or whether the phone has dual SIM capability or not. Customers there are more keen to own feature rich smartphones and are passionate about the speed the device offers. The Indian market is totally different in that sense. Here, people demand more on the hardware and software side, but at an economical cost. An Indian customer’s basic requirements include a huge
battery but in a slim device, dual SIM, fast processing speeds and a multi-tasking environment. On the software side, Indian customers are keener on having a personalised handset rather than having handset-centric applications. So, at our R&D centre, these things are being modified keeping in mind the requirements of Indian customers. Q Can you give an example of a handset that you have customised for the Indian market? We have customised the ZTE Grand X especially for the Indian market. Globally, it is a 5 MP handset but for the Indian consumers, we are customising it with an 8 MP camera. We are not changing things on the price side though, since Indian customers require a good camera as they use their smartphones as cameras too. Also, ZTE Grand S is a single SIM device for the worldwide market but for India, we are developing it as a dual SIM handset. Q What about the after-sales service for ZTE devices? ZTE is a brand that is known for its after-sales service. We have already established 214 service centres across the country that are equipped with the L2 level of repair facilities. We are amongst the few companies in India that have L3 and L4 level component repair facilities. We have a full-fledged repair factory in Manesar, where we can repair and manufacture PCBs. These service centres have been around for seven years now. So the personnel there are experts in repairing devices and the factory carries the full stock of components required to expedite the process of repairing a device. Customers in India do not have to worry about the after-sales service. Q One major complaint that customers have with the ZTE phones already launched is that they do not have sufficient battery back-up. Have you tried to address this issue? I am unsure about whether there is any such complaint as we have already sold around 36 million devices in India, and this figure includes our smartphones as well. We have been able to reach this figure without having an open market presence. But when we started going to the open market, our main focus was on the battery. So all the phones from ZTE in India currently have an average battery of 2000 mAh, which is the starting point. The upcoming four models will have a battery of around 2700 mAh. We are coming up with models that have 2500 mAh batteries as well as 3800 mAh batteries. We are more focused on this aspect as we understand that the battery consumption of Indian customers is very high due to their usage habits. We are concentrating on large batteries fitted into slim devices. Q What about the Firefox phone from ZTE? Are you planning to bring it into the Indian market? The device is ready but this phone has to be launched
“Open source technology allows us to create and customise devices as per the needs of our customers. In India, Android is so successful that one doesn’t need to look beyond this platform. There is awareness and an ecosystem built around Android. So it would not be wise to work on another platform on which all these attributes are yet to be proved successful.”
with an operator. The simple reason is that it is based on a thin-client network. We have launched the device in the UK market and it is sold out too. But, in India, it has to be launched through some operator because this is an application-centric phone, where all the applications including the customer data have to be on the cloud of the operator. So an operator has to first create the cloud related environment and then only can they go ahead with these phones. The cloud related environment and ecosystem will take some time to be built. On those levels, the Indian market is not yet prepared for the Firefox phones. Q So are you not in discussions about these devices with any of the operators in the country? We have already proposed the use of our devices, but the complete creation of a cloud environment for the devices is a big decision. The operator has to first look into the business aspects and conduct a feasibility analysis. Q Most of your devices are based on open source operating systems like Android and Firefox OS. Any reasons for this? Open source technology allows us to create and customise devices as per the needs of our customers. In India, Android is so successful that one doesn’t need to look beyond this platform. There is awareness and an ecosystem built around Android. So it would not be wise to work on another platform on which all these attributes are yet to be proved successful. The Windows Phone platform is limited as of now and the customers need time to warm up to it. We will continue to focus on Android for the next two years. Right now we are concentrating on the innovations on the hardware side, but going forward, we will innovate on the software side too. Q What is your strategy for entering the open market? We have already started with our open market operations. We have tied up with retailers in Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP and the Delhi-NCR region. We are gradually moving towards the southern and the northern parts of the country.