Tamil Nadu - Vellore   

"Mobile computing key to meeting social care demands"

Special Correspondent

They are also vital in modernising services in the domains of public interest

INAUGURAL: Bettina Harriehausen-Muhlbauer of the University of Applied Sciences, Darmstadt, Germany, lights the lamp to mark the inauguration of an international conference on "Mobile, Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing" at the VIT University, in Vel lore on Monday. University Chancellor G. Viswanathan (second from left) and Pro-Chancellor (Administration) G.V. Sampath (extreme left), are also in the picture. — Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan

VELLORE: Mobile computing and communication was the key to achieve the convergence of computing, communications and media technologies to meet the rising demand for health and social care. They were also vital in modernising services in the domains of public interest such as education, security, energy, transport and environment, according to G. Viswanathan, Chancellor of the Vellore Institute of Technology University.

Inaugurating the two-day third international conference on "Mobile, Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing", organised jointly by the School of Computing Sciences (SCS), VIT University and the Computer Society of India Division-II and IV at the university campus here on Monday, Mr. Viswanathan said that in the context of realising the goals enshrined in Vision 2020, it was essential that the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector, of which mobile computing had been a major component, met the above requirements. "India, with 6.6 million mobile phone subscribers has surpassed China already, and is expected to have 50 million mobile phone subscribers by 2010."

The Chancellor said that the major potential areas of application of mobile computing were health (improving disease prevention, early diagnosis and autonomy, safety and mobility of patients), inclusion (prevention of digital divides), mobility (intelligent transportation system to ensure safety, comfort and efficiency). They also included environment (in reducing vulnerability to and mitigating consequences of natural disasters and industrial accidents), governance (efficiency, openness and accountability in administration, with links to citizens and businesses), creativity, personal development and technology-enhanced learning.

Delivering the keynote address on "The Gridbus Middleware for Utility-Oriented Grid Computing"', Rajkumar Buyya, Director of the Grid Computing and Distributed Systems, University of Melbourne, Australia said that next to the four essential utility grids, grid computing would constitute the fifth utility grid that would become an essential distribution system enabling the sharing, exchange, selection and aggregation of geographically distributed autonomous resources. The four other grids were as the water distribution network, power grid, gas grid and the telecommunication network. Users would have to subscribe to this grid in order to access various services, such as data, application, interaction, knowledge and utility computing services.

Bettina Harriehausen-Muhlbauer of the University of Applied Science, Darmstadt, Germany spoke on Database Management. G.V. Sampath, Pro-Chancellor (Administration), VIT University, Anand Samuel, Registrar, H.R. Vishwakarma, Technical Chair, and V. Radhakrishnan, Dean, SCS spoke. P. Venkatakrishna, organising secretary proposed a vote of thanks.

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