Microsoft partners with TCS, Wipro for intelligent city solutions and services

NEW DELHI: Microsoft India announced the launch of Microsoft CityNext in the country. CityNext is an initiative to enable city residents and city leaders to use technology to build a foundation for sustainable growth. Globally the programme was launched in July this year.

Microsoft has also signed up technology services providers Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS) and Wipro as partners to implement the CityNext solutions and services. Such solutions can help in areas including traffic management, healthcare services, payment of local taxes and tackling environmental issues.

In a statement Microsoft said it has identified more than 40 solution areas across eight city domains. These are energy and water, buildings; infrastructure and planning, transportation, public safety and justice, tourism, recreation, and culture, education, health and social services and government administration. These eight address 90% of the challenges cities faces today.

Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman - Microsoft India said, "By 2030, India will have more than 69 cities with a population of more than one million. An estimated 590 million people will be living in cities. As India prepares to modernize old infrastructure, city leaders have to meet these growing demands with tight budgets and greater citizen expectations."

Commenting on the launch, Partha Sarathi Guha Patra, vice president & head corporate affairs, Wipro said in the release, "Indian city leaders are looking at how they can drive uniform city-wide development. Microsoft's CityNext is an initiative that can be leveraged to achieve this objective."

In other parts of the world, Microsoft and partners help several cities address local issues. For example, using the Microsoft CityNext tools, resident of Barcelona can download a Windows mobile app to monitor fluctuations in population density, unemployment rates, and other local data, to help make decisions about where to start a business or where to settle down with a family.